


All Blasters and Girl Talk

by Recourse



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/F, Face-Sitting, Handcuffs, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, Rough Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Strap-Ons, Tribadism, Triggers, Vibrators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 08:14:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4869731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Recourse/pseuds/Recourse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaliyo invites Cipher Nine out for a drink at her favorite Nar Shaddaa cantina, and finds herself being quickly and mercilessly seduced by a woman she'd only thought of as a pathway to adventure and credits. Kaliyo isn't sure just how much she likes the change in dynamic...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. More Fun Than You Look, Agent

Kaliyo had been watching Agent for five full minutes, and she still had no clue what she was doing.

Leaning against Agent’s doorframe and staring blankly at her was supposed to work. Kaliyo worked hard at being generally unnerving enough to draw attention to herself and force people to acknowledge her, and here Agent was, totally ignoring her. The red light from that device she wore over her eyes never moved an inch from the computer screen she was manipulating to who-knows-what ends.

Finally, Kaliyo gave in. “Hey.”

Agent’s smug smirk put a corresponding frown into Kaliyo’s face. “Yes, Kaliyo?” she asked, barely turning from her screen.

“We’re on Nar Shaddaa.”

“Thank you, Kaliyo. Was that all?”

“Don’t get smart with me.”

“Can’t help it, I’m afraid.” Agent tapped the side of her head. “Imperial _Intelligence_ , you know.”

“You know what, I’m rethinking this,” Kaliyo said, throwing her hands in the air. “Fine. I’ll go by myself.”

“What are you talking about?” Agent asked, standing up from her desk and brushing off her trenchcoat.

“I was thinking about going to the best cantina on this rock and taking you along, but I’ve decided I don’t need a wingman who’s gonna sass me all night,” Kaliyo explained. “I’ve got credits and we’ve got a free few hours while that Cyclone or whatever is getting analyzed, so I’m going.”

“I think I will come along,” Agent said.

“Why? You seemed pretty into that...whatever you were doing.”

“To sass you all night.”

“Okay, agent. Bring a knife.”

“Oh, I always do. But I will need to change, I think. So get out.”

Kaliyo raised her eyebrows. “Really? You own clothes that don’t make you look like an Imp stooge?”

“You’ll see,” Agent said with a mysterious smile. “Now get out.”

Kaliyo stepped outside and put her back to the wall, fidgeting with the blaster on her hip. She’d already dressed for the night, of course, and figured that nothing Agent could come up with could best her black leather jacket -- a classic look, she thought, giving off the perfect smuggler vibe for the role she was going to play tonight.  

But the Agent that emerged from the room was, Kaliyo had to admit, not really worth calling Agent anymore. Kaliyo’d never seen so much of her smooth brown skin, shown off by her skintight, shiny sleeveless top which tapered down into equally tight pants and thigh-high boots. Her bright red hair, usually so carefully combed and parted, was in an artful mess across her forehead. Kaliyo was suddenly struck by how small her body was, how lithe and _short_ \-- somehow, she’d always carried herself as though she was the biggest person in the room since Hutta. But there was one thing ruining the look a bit.

“Can’t you ever take that off?” Kaliyo asked, pointing at the red-lit, slotted device over Agent’s eyes.

“What, my _eyes_?” Agent asked, raising a pencilled-on eyebrow. “Do you not know...?”

“What?” Kaliyo asked.

“They’re implants, you idiot. I’m a cyborg?” Agent traced the concentric circles that radiated out from under her eye sockets, _scar tissue_ , Kaliyo suddenly realized. “You thought these were some Intelligence device, didn’t you?”

“Maybe... Look, Agent, it’s not like you’re keen on sharing things about yourself.”

“You have a point. And you’ll have to stop calling me ‘agent’.”

“Okay, then what do I call you?” Kaliyo asked, pushing off from the wall. “Nobody calls you anything but code names or cover names, and you’ve never said--”

“Katra,” Agent said. “I’m Katra.”

“Oh, that’s good. Did you come up with that just for tonight?” Kaliyo asked.

“I--no, that’s my real name. Or it was.” Katra looked away.”But I suppose Kaliyo’s not your real name, is it?”

“Might be, might not be, I don’t even remember sometimes. We going or what?”

“It might be fun,” Katra said with a shrug. “Let’s do it.”

As they left the ship and set out for the taxi station, Kaliyo started filling Katra in on the particular cantina they were going to visit. “It’s called the Cesspool, because they only serve stuff that’s poisonous to at least one sentient species, and man, the fight’s I’ve gotten into, here, let me tell you about this one time...”

Katra let Kaliyo talk for once, only a small smile and the occasional “hmm” and “oh,” to mark that she was listening. She seemed far more interested in making strange facial expressions, leaning back into the seat a bit, adjusting the way she held herself -- _She’s prepping,_ Kaliyo suddenly realized. _Like an actor._

By the time the taxi reached their destination, Katra had become an entirely different person, gliding out of the seat and strutting across the walkway (and straight past the bouncer). The usual military stiffness, the short, purposeful strides that Kaliyo knew didn’t even seem to be possible for such a woman. The bouncer, a big Nikto with a mean grimace, watched Katra as she entered the bar, then turned to Kaliyo.

“She’s seriously with you?” he asked with a smirk. “You’re working in better company than you used to.”

“I’m always moving up, Manek,” Kaliyo said, patting his shoulder as she passed him by. She took a deep, appreciative sniff of the grungy air of the Cesspool; a mixture of chemicals, vomit, and musk from the Wookie who was threatening dismemberment over at the dejarik table in the corner. This was what she’d been missing since Dromund Kaas spoiled the fun; a sense of danger in the air as two twi’leks leered at each other in a booth, fingering their blasters under the table; a scent of lust and desperation from the rattataki latching himself onto a chiss at the end of the bar, trailing his fingers down hard blue muscled arms; the sight of money and spice changing hands as the paauerduag and the human sat across from each other at a table, their merchandise in plain view. And in the midst of it all, Katra barely stood out, but she stood out just enough -- once you did see her, it was hard to take your eyes off of her. At least, Kaliyo assumed she had that effect on everyone.

Katra smoothly guided herself onto the center stool at the bar, flipping a stray strand of red hair behind her ear as she caught the bartender’s compound eye. “Got anything new in stock?” Kaliyo heard her ask in her Red Blade accent as Kaliyo swooped in beside her.

The gand made some strange insectoid noises that Kaliyo couldn’t quite decipher over the bass and produced a small cloudy green bottle from beneath the bar. He pointed at Kaliyo, and she held up two fingers. With a strange chortling sound, he poured three shots of the stuff and sent two of them Kaliyo’s way, but Katra downed hers first. Kali’s hand stopped halfway to her lips as Katra started laughing her head off.

“This isn’t ‘wookie liquor’ at all! I’ve had this!” Katra exclaimed to the gand’s clear chagrin. “Who sold you this?” The bartender shrugged. “Well I bet I worked for them before, because I know this is Chokerum, made from _Quesh venom_. Imp soldiers figured out a way to turn the stuff into booze, got hooked, and started stealing it from the Hutts to make more, getting smugglers to send it to them at their new posts. Oh, this is very, very bad stuff!” Katra continued, grinning. “Another, please!”

Kaliyo eyed the drink suspiciously. “Imps made it from Hutt crap? That’s the worst combination for alcohol I can think of,” she said, rotating it in her hands as though trying to spot the Imperial logo.

“C’mon, Kali, I thought you had _brass_ ,” Katra laughed, leaning over and grabbing Kaliyo’s glass. She forced it to Kaliyo’s lips, keeping another hand on her neck, and Kaliyo felt warmth spreading through her body as the copper-tasting garbage slid down her throat. She shivered as Katra withdrew her hands, but kept her eyes open and her face neutral.

“I’ve had worse,” Kaliyo said with a shrug, putting the glass down and reaching for the next. “Anything else you got for us, Ion?”

With a trill, Ion produced a dark red bottle and put it down in front of Kaliyo, distracting her just long enough for Katra to steal her next shot. Katra interrupted her objection with a dark chuckle that sent a pleasurable chill down Kaliyo’s spine. She wanted to slap herself for that reaction. “You’ll like this one better,” Katra promised, pouring a shot of the new drink for her. “I recognize the bottle.”

Even Ion seemed to be staring directly at Kaliyo as she took the next shot. She felt it as an icy finger inching down her throat and into her stomach, almost ticklish. She wanted to laugh as the sensation faded. “What is this? I do like it,” Kaliyo confirmed.

“It’s Sithspit, made from tuk’ata blood,” Katra answered with a smile. “Mixture of Kaas liquor and Sith alchemy. Rare off of Korriban.”

“I take it back, the Imps know their stuff,” Kaliyo said.

“Leave the bottles, Ion, I think we've found our rotation for the night,” Katra said, handing a credit chip to the gand. She poured herself another shot of the Chokerum and downed it, giving Kaliyo a mechanical stare that dared her to match the pace. Kaliyo poured and downed two shots of the Sithspit in quick succession to catch up, reveling in the electric tingles it made in her fingertips. After another round, Katra’s smile looked increasingly inviting, and Kaliyo found that she wanted to hit something.

Luckily, the twi’leks from the booth behind them had apparently gotten over their own dispute and made their way over to Kaliyo and Katra, knowing smirks on their faces. Katra turned to see them coming, then gave Kaliyo a raised eyebrow. Kaliyo decided to see where the night took them as the purple one slid over to her side and tapped her shoulder.

“Hey, pretty lady. Mind if I buy you a drink?” he asked as his green friend took up position next to Katra.

Kaliyo pointed out her bottle. “Already got plenty for the night. Why would I want your drinks when my friend Katra here is paying for everything?”

“Well, because you want to get to know me. I’m a big deal around here, you know. You never heard of Gar’Lazhen?” the twi’lek asked. “I could show you things that freak cyborg over there never dreamed of.”

“Doubt it, pal,” Kaliyo said, starting to get distracted by what Katra was doing. She had a hand on the green twi’lek’s lekku, slowly stroking it up and down as he visibly struggled to keep his composure. Kaliyo couldn’t quite make out what Katra was whispering so sultrily, but the sound of Katra’s voice vibrated pleasantly in her ears.

“Aw, c’mo-” Gar began, but he was interrupted by a pained squeal as Katra yanked and squeezed Green’s lekku as hard as she could. Gar drew his blaster and pointed it at Katra just as Kaliyo did the same to him. “What the hell?!” he asked as his companion started crying and whimpering at Katra’s feet — Kaliyo chose to ignore the warm sensation in her lower body that was counteracting the Sithspit.

“I told your companion very clearly that I wasn’t interested in him. He chose not to listen,” Katra explained calmly as she stepped off the stool and kicked the green twi’lek in the face, knocking him to the ground. “I suggest you leave my companion alone too, friend.”

“To hell with that!” Gar growled, but in a split-second Katra took her knife from her boot and tossed it directly into Gar’s wrist, sticking straight through it and forcing him to drop his blaster as he screamed in pain.

“Kaliyo? Beat the tar out of this scum, please,” Katra sweetly requested.

“Oh, yes,” Kaliyo said, standing up and holstering her blaster. As she cracked her knuckles, however, she saw Manek pushing through the crowd and sighed, feeling the blood rushing to her chest and knowing she wouldn’t get to indulge this particular urge.

Manek stepped up to the four of them and boomed, “All right, what’s going on in here with the screaming and the crying and the _knife_ —Gar, were you bothering the ladies again?” Gar pointed at the knife, still screaming. “Yeah, you picked the wrong target today, bucko. You’re on your ass out the door now, thank you,” Manek continued, picking him up by his collar.

“Excuse me, sir, but could I have that back?” Katra asked, holding up a finger. Manek looked down, plucked the knife out of Gar’s wrist, and tossed it to Katra. “Delightful. Thank you!”

“You too, dummy,” Manek grunted, hoisting up Gar’s green friend and herding the two out the door. “Get to a medcenter, you chuckleheads...”

Kaliyo let out a groan of frustration as she took her stool back. “Man, I was hoping for a scrap!” she complained, but her mouth clamped shut as Katra’s finger circled her collar.

“Have another drink,” she cooed, running her finger up the back of Kaliyo’s neck as she sat down. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to work off the frustration.” Kaliyo’s mouth went dry as Katra poured another shot into her glass. She offered it to her, the glossy stain of reddish-gold lipstick on the top of the glass drawing Kaliyo’s eye. As she placed her black lips over the stain and drank Katra’s favored swill, Katra herself borrowed some of the Sithspit and took a very slow shot. Kaliyo cursed herself for shaking as she watched. She was supposed to be the one pushing, not Agent, but the way her voice curled like smoke in the air, her easy confidence, her smile...Kaliyo hadn’t even thought of it before tonight, but it was starting to become clear that this had been Katra’s plan from the start. _I should hate her_ , Kaliyo thought, _She’s been playing me the whole night_. And yet that was why she was so interesting in the first place, why Kaliyo had joined up with her on Hutta; here was a woman who knew what she wanted, followed through with her flirting and her threats, and never stayed in the same place or identity for long. _It’s not like I didn’t already know she was a snake._

And the snake had a really, _really_ hot smile.

“Ready to get out of here?” Katra offered.

“Yeah,” Kaliyo said, then, “One second.” She took the bottle of Sithspit and took a quick swig to calm her nerves, although the icy fingers of the alchemical concoction didn’t really accomplish that as they spread to her toes.

“Ion? Please have these delivered to bay 34A over at Mezenti, I’d like to finish them at some point,” Katra called to the bartender, flipping another credit chip his way. “Truly excellent selection here, by the way.” Ion nodded and took the two bottles off the bar. Katra stood up and stretched, pushing her chest almost directly into Kaliyo’s face. “Come on,” Katra insisted, grabbing Kaliyo’s collar and pulling her off the stool.

Kaliyo was too distracted by the way Katra’s knuckles pressed comfortably against her chest to object to being led around. She followed her through the back door of the bar, emerging out into a dirty Nar Shaddaa alleyway. Katra whirled her around in front of her, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her against the opposite wall. There was a brief moment of pause, their faces so close that all Kaliyo could think was _she smells like spice_. And suddenly Katra was kissing her, so forcefully that Kaliyo could barely react, except with a moan when she felt Katra’s teeth pulling at her lower lip. Then there was a thigh between her legs, rocking against her tight leather pants, and Kaliyo scrambled to find Katra’s zipper -- but Katra grabbed her wrists and pinned them against the wall, and Kaliyo suddenly had an idea of how this was going to go. And as Katra’s hand traveled down her stomach, beneath her waistband, she surrendered to it.

Katra’s hand could barely move inside her pants, but the pressure between Kaliyo’s legs was enough to make her whimper — that, and the way Katra’s lithe body pressed against hers, the taste of cinnamon on her lips, the forceful grip on her wrist...Kaliyo could barely breathe.

Katra suddenly broke the kiss and released Kaliyo’s wrist, crouching for a second to unzip Kaliyo’s pants and yank them down to mid-thigh, just enough for access. As Katra stood back up, she slid a finger through Kaliyo’s glistening slit, then carefully licked her juices off her finger as Kaliyo watched. Kaliyo shuddered, sliding against the wall, waiting for Katra to take her, pleading with her eyes — but of course, the red lenses of Katra’s implants couldn’t reply in kind.

Katra leaned in and kissed Kaliyo’s neck, pressing one hand against her chest and carefully, calmly rubbing between her legs with the other. Kaliyo wanted to ask her to speed up, to beg for a finger inside her, but her mouth was thoroughly occupied with Katra’s tongue and the warm, almost safe feeling of being in someone else’s control for once was absolutely intoxicating — or maybe that was the booze. Katra’s fingers turned from rubbing to exploring, spreading her lips, circling her clit, her entrance, and then slowly inching inside as Kaliyo’s muscles clenched. As Katra started pumping inside her, she broke the kiss for a moment to lift up Kaliyo’s shirt beneath her jacket, giving herself access to Kaliyo’s hard gray nipples. Kaliyo just closed her eyes and enjoyed Katra’s attention, gyrating her hips, _riding_ Katra’s hand as hard as she could as she felt the electricity crackling in her gut. She moaned into Katra’s mouth once it returned to her lips, feeling Katra increase her pace, rubbing her thumb across her clit, her other hand squeezing her breasts. Kaliyo had to struggle to maintain her footing and her brace against the wall as her legs shook. Katra seemed to take this as a sign to push deeper into her, adding another finger and hooking them in, and as they grazed her g-spot Kaliyo gasped and threw her head back, barely avoiding hitting the wall. Katra took the opportunity to kiss her neck, sucking and pulling on the tender gray flesh there even as she ramped up her speed below.

Finally, Kaliyo couldn’t hold herself back anymore and released the tension that had built between her legs, crying out and clenching her teeth as she came, coating Katra’s hand with her arousal. She clutched at Katra, trying to keep herself stable as waves of pleasure racked her body, but she found no purchase in Katra’s skintight top — and Katra was letting her fall anyway, chuckling as she sank to the ground in a sitting position, panting as her hands trailed down Katra’s legs. Katra carefully sucked the moisture off her fingers, then knelt to wipe the back of her hand on Kaliyo’s jacket. Just as Kaliyo reached up to take her chin, kiss her, pay her back somehow, she stood up and smirked down at her.

“See you on the ship, sweetheart,” she said, and marched back through the door, leaving Kaliyo with a profound sense of _What the hell just happened?_ But she was still too caught-up in the afterglow to be able to get up, or really spend any time thinking about the situation she’d been left in.

As the fog lifted from her mind and the chilly city air started to blow across her body, she realized that she was sitting in a back alley with her tits and pussy exposed to the world and anyone could walk by at any time. Cursing herself for falling so deeply under Katra’s spell, she tugged her shirt back into place and yanked her pants back up, ready to run back to the ship and tell her a thing or two about how you’re supposed to fuck people. She barged back into the cantina and marched across it to head back to the taxi pad. Manek gave her a nod as she told the droid to bring her back to Mezenti.

By the time she made it back to the ship, however, the lights had been dimmed. Kaliyo walked right up to 2V-R8, standing in his usual spot at the end of the loading ramp.

“Where is she?” she demanded, putting a hand on her hip.

“Cipher Nine has returned to her quarters, Mistress Kaliyo, and locked them until further notice. Is there any other way I can assist you?” 2V responded cheerfully.

“Unlock them.”

“I’m so sorry, Mistress Kaliyo, but—”

Grumbling, Kaliyo pushed past him and made her way to Katra’s door, raising her fist to knock. But before she actually managed to do it, she thought of how she’d feel if some pathetic guy she’d gotten off had come crawling to her room, begging for cuddles when she was already done, and looked away, tracing the hickey Katra had left on her neck like some kind of proof of ownership. Katra had already gotten what she wanted, and what right did Kaliyo have to complain? She’d been treated to drinks and a killer orgasm, and not asked for a damn thing in return. Still...

But there wasn’t any reason Kaliyo could really think of to bother Agent now.

She went back to her own room and didn’t feel great about it as she undressed and settled down in her cot. It felt small, and lonely. She wondered if this was how her ‘boyfriends’ felt. 

She wondered what was behind Katra’s red lenses.

 


	2. One Round A Minute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Katra turns their night out at the Cesspool into a foundation for their relationship, Kaliyo finds that she's starting to want a lot more...

This was a trap.

Ever since the Cesspool, anything that took Kaliyo and Katra to anywhere that wasn’t a combat zone was a trap. Still, this was one of the most obvious ones to date, and Kaliyo had walked right into it regardless. As she clung to Katra’s back, speeding through the Tatooine desert on her Titan, she knew exactly how this whole thing would shake out, likely with her bare ass in the sand, dazed by the fuck-fog, and Katra speeding away laughing her head off. And yet, Kaliyo had gone along anyway. Probably because even if Katra was using her, even if she kept getting left half-nude in half-public places, this was still the most exciting thing to happen to her in years. Screw the Eagle and screw Intelligence -- all that mattered was getting back that feeling she’d had behind the Cesspool, in that corner of the Mos Ila cantina, during that hour they were waiting cramped together in a cargo crate bound for the ghost cell’s camp.

Besides, Katra looked especially hot today, figuratively and literally. If nothing else, this particular excuse for attacking Kaliyo’s body came with a nice outfit for the temperature; Kaliyo had had to stop herself from staring at Kat’s bare legs under her tight red shorts when she came out of her room today, and the thin white t-shirt was just transparent enough for Kaliyo to want to see much, much more. Kaliyo moved her hands up from Katra’s waist as she entertained the thought, gripping tightly onto Katra’s small, firm breasts. Katra yelped and slapped one of her hands away, veering the speeder sharply to the left as she did so and almost depositing Kaliyo over the side. Kaliyo quickly latched onto Katra’s waist again, a flush coming to her cheeks. Apparently, she wasn’t allowed to touch her.

As they disembarked next to a rocky cliff that led straight into a canyon, Katra turned to her with a scowl on her face. “We are _supposed_ to be teaching you sniping techniques today, not getting handsy with the instructor,” she huffed, slinging a bag off of one of the engine pods.

“Can you blame a girl for wanting to have a little fun?” Kaliyo said, her face still burning from the rejection.

“You have fun with me when I _say_ you can,” Katra replied, sending a shiver down Kaliyo’s spine. “Besides, I thought you liked shooting things.” she added, taking a spherical droid out of the bag and throwing it into the air. She continued to toss out droid after droid, letting their self-preservation protocols turn them on and force them to activate their repulsors to stay afloat. As the sixth one came wobbling to life, she pulled Kaliyo’s Intelligence-issued rifle from the bag and tossed it to her. “You said you wanted to learn our one-shot-one-kill techniques, you’ve got the best equipment for it -- and I’m tired of watching you abuse it,” Katra said, then turned to the droids. “Line up 30 meters from the speeder, two meters apart, shield threshold five,” she ordered.

“I don’t ‘abuse’ my guns, I just use ‘em till they wear out,” Kaliyo objected as the droids whizzed by her head.

“Intelligence rifles do not ‘wear out’ after six battles, Kaliyo, and I’m not requesting another one until you learn how to fire them properly. I’ve had this rifle since I joined, and may I just add that I am killing a _significantly_ higher number of our foes than you are?”

“That’s cause I’m takin’ all the hits!” Kaliyo replied, fuming. An argument was _not_ supposed to be the point of this little venture.

“It’s because half the time you’re overloading your rifle. Here.” Katra walked over and pointed to a button on the side of Kaliyo’s blaster. “Press that.” Kaliyo obeyed and heard a distinct click. “Now it’s on charge mode. Standard range for engagement is thirty meters for an Intelligence operative, thirty-five for a specially-trained sniper like me. Thirty should be enough for us to be able to really work together and set up ambushes instead of you just charging in,” Katra explained. “Your tactics work well in a barroom brawl, but we’re going up against the seriously trained. You can’t be lucky forever.”

“Is that concern for me, princess?” Kaliyo goaded. “I’m touched.”

“Shut up and aim.”

Kaliyo carefully aimed at the further droid on the left and squeezed the trigger, sending a red bolt into it dead-center. The droid flashed a red light at her and made a mrrrr sound.

“So you’ve got decent aim with a non-moving target and no charge on the rifle. It’s a start. I was worried you were limited to ten meters and we’d be out here all day,” Katra said. “But that didn’t pass the droid’s shield threshold, which I’ve set at roughly the amount of power it takes to blow through standard Republic infantry armor. Hold time for a threshold-five charge is one-point-five seconds.”

“What.”

“Hold the trigger down for a second and a half to get the droid to drop,” Katra sighed. “It won’t actually go into freefall, it’ll stop itself, but it’s just to make it clear you got it.”

“How the hell am I supposed to know when it’s ready?”

“We’re taught breathing exercises, but you’ll know it by the sound. Hold it down, listen, and I’ll tell you when to shoot,” Katra explained.

Kaliyo set her sights on the droid again, took a breath, and held down the trigger, listening as the whine from the rifle rose in pitch. The rifle seemed jumpy in her hands as she waited for the signal, vibrating in her loose grip. “Now!” Katra shouted, and Kaliyo released -- and the shot went wide.

“Yeah, that casual underworld grip isn’t going to work for you at this range,” Katra chided, putting a hand on her hip. “It’s not some shotgun you’re slinging around willy-nilly, it’s a precise instrument of death. You have to hold it like it’s part of your body -- not loose, but not a deathgrip either, just something that is _going_ to stay in your hands.”

Kaliyo let out an annoyed grunt, adjusting her grip so that she held the rifle a little closer, a little tighter, without the ease of letting go that she was used to -- she had to remember that this wasn’t a time for spinning tricks. Another deep breath, and she started to hold the charge down, listening for the point that Katra had told her to fire at before. She let go just as Katra opened her mouth, and the droid dropped into the canyon.

“You know, you’re a natural at this,” Katra said, walking around behind Kaliyo. “Try the next one.”

Breathe, hold, release. One shot, one dropped droid. Kaliyo grinned. No wonder Katra wanted her to try this, this was almost as satisfying as a fistfight. And then Katra’s finger was trailing down her spine, through the thin material of her black tank top. “Very nice,” Katra whispered, and all Kaliyo could think was _Finally, we’re getting somewhere_. “Try the next one,” Katra urged. “And remember, part of being an Intelligence operative is being able to do your job...no matter how distracted you are.”

The challenge had been set. Kaliyo aimed for the third droid, took a breath, held it, waited for the right moment -- then jerked as Katra suddenly grabbed her breasts, sending her shot far afield. “Ooh, too bad,” Katra cooed. “Guess you’ll have to try again.” Kaliyo tried to suppress the shudder sent into her from Katra’s voice and focused on the rifle again, the sights, the droids, and definitely not the way Katra’s fingers were slowly circling her hardening nipples. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she squeezed the trigger. Release. On target. Another droid down.

“Good.” Katra pressed her body against Kaliyo’s back. “Next.”

Kaliyo’s breath caught in her throat as Katra kissed the back of her neck, forming a seal with her lips. _She’s gonna give me another damn hickey_ , she thought, trying to calm the shaking in her arms. _Like it wasn’t obvious enough that she’s toying with me_. The thought made her want to punch something, and she tried to focus it into her grip on the rifle even as Katra started lifting her shirt up. Kaliyo swallowed, hating and loving the way that Katra’s fingers made her nerves sing as they traveled up her stomach, how easy it was to want to fall into her, to let her have her way.

But the challenge had been set, and she readied another shot, clenching her teeth as Katra pinched at her exposed nipples. She released just as Katra’s head pulled back from her neck, teeth scraping her skin, and she let out a sigh of relief as the fourth droid dropped.

“Better than I expected,” Katra whispered in her ear. “Two more.” She released Kaliyo’s chest and started working at the zipper on her pants, opening her fly as she turned to the fifth droid. As a hand slid down over her boxers, Kaliyo let out a whimper, cursing how wet she already was, how obvious her acceptance of Katra’s demands. She had to take a moment to steady herself even as Katra refused to give her relief, rubbing her mound, inching closer to her slit but never under her waistband.

“I thought you usually saw things through,” Katra goaded, planting a kiss on Kaliyo’s shoulder.

Kaliyo bit her lip, aimed, breathed, held the trigger. A finger slipped under her waistband and down through her lips as the rifle charged. Released. Droid downed.

“Just one more,” Katra promised, circling around in front of Kaliyo. As she knelt in front of her, her head just under where Kaliyo had let the rifle fall as she tried to adjust her aim to the final droid, she thought, _that’s just not fair._

Katra pulled her pants and underwear down to her ankles, then spread her lips with her fingers. Kaliyo looked down and immediately regretted it, because those red lights and that wicked smile were looking right back up at her. She almost dropped the gun. “Well?” Katra taunted.

As Kaliyo re-steadied her aim and closed one eye, Katra’s tongue gently reached out and touched her. She almost doubled over with the shock of the moment, the soft, wet swirlings of Katra’s work rendering her a shaking mess. She had to fight to keep her mouth closed, her arms steady -- she could barely even think about breathing, or timing, or anything so long as her entire body felt like a pressure cooker. But the challenge had been set, the challenge had been set, she had to try. Hold your breath. Take aim. Hold the trigger. Listen. Release.

The droid dropped, and so did Kaliyo’s rifle as she bent over and clawed at Katra’s hair, holding on tight and letting out a long, loud moan she’d been holding for far too long. She panted and gasped as Katra sucked and pulled on her clit, hands balling into fists with bunches of Katra’s hair stuck within them. She hissed as she felt her orgasm rising, her legs weakening beneath her, her chest essentially resting on top of Katra’s head as she bent over, moving her hands to Katra’s back to keep herself steady.

She heard her scream of pleasure reverberate off the canyon walls, but she didn’t care.

She expected Katra to draw away again, to let her fall into the sand, and she hated the thought of losing her warmth even in the heat of Tatooine’s suns. But this time, she didn’t. Katra rose to her feet and pulled Kaliyo up with her, running a hand along the top of her bald head and leaning in close.

“Well done,” Katra murmured. Her soft, slow kiss drew Kaliyo in. She tasted wonderful. Kaliyo embraced her, drew her as close as possible, even with her pants around her ankles and shining trails running down her legs. Kaliyo didn’t want to let her go, or even move from this spot. As Katra broke the kiss, Kaliyo pulled her in even further, laying her head on her shoulder and closing her eyes.

She wanted to say something -- about how she couldn’t stop looking forward to these moments, about how Katra lit her body up like a beacon whenever she touched her, about how she wanted to stay like this, about wanting to give back. But Katra was already ready to leave. She slipped out of Kaliyo’s arms and crouched down, pulling Kaliyo’s pants back up and buttoning them for her. With another brief kiss, she tugged her tank top back down over her breasts, and stepped back as Kaliyo hugged herself, staring hungrily at the hints of flesh beneath Katra’s shirt.

She watched her lean over and pick up the rifle, then call to the droids to come home. As she deactivated them one-by-one and put them in the bag, Kaliyo tried to come up with something to say, some reason to think that Katra would want her touch, too.

“Are you coming?” Katra asked as she slung the bag back over the engine pod and climbed on. Kaliyo took her place behind her and held tight as they sped back to Mos Ila. All she could think of was the way Katra had pushed her away on the way over, the rejection that still burned at her ego. _I should just go to bed with her_ , Kaliyo thought, _after this I shouldn’t even have to ask._

But when they got back to the ship, they went their separate ways as usual, without a word. Katra went to the cockpit, and Kaliyo returned to the little half-barracks in the back of the ship and took a cot. Alone. Her body still ached with desire as she tossed and turned, waiting for the trip to Alderaan to start, waiting for Katra to come and lie down with her and apologize for putting her through this. But the day’s heat, the day’s lust, had also put a toll on her body, and she was able to sleep in fits.

This was when she decided that this had to stop.

 

 


	3. I'm Still Calling You "Agent"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaliyo tries to make her problems known to Katra, only for it to blow up in her face. Luckily, she runs into an old friend...

As they left the Cortess throne room, the door closing behind them, Katra turned to Kaliyo. She had her “I’m going to fuck you” smile on, and Kaliyo, for a moment, reconsidered her decision. “So, the Baron has extended his hospitality to us,” Katra said slowly. “What do you say we find a nice corner and take advantage of it?”

Maybe it was easier this time than it was in the palace because Katra was in her red battle armor instead of a backless dress, or because Kaliyo’s heavy armor would take forever to get off,  or because they hadn’t started as soon as they’d turned a corner and Kaliyo wasn’t about to stop her when Katra was already lighting her up. Maybe it was because it was the first time since Nar Shaddaa that Katra had actually _asked_. But it felt like, after a bit of stumbling block, Kaliyo was finally able to just say it:

“No.”

As clear as she could manage, no stuttering, no break in eye contact. She watched Katra’s face, and saw nothing. Her expression turned blank, unreadable.

“All right,” she said with a shrug, turning away from Kaliyo. “Let’s get back to Vector, then, and see what he thinks of this Denri Ayl person.”

“Hey, wait!” Kaliyo said as Katra started walking away, grabbing at her arm. “That’s it?”

“What’s it?” Katra asked, raising an eyebrow. “The Killiks probably know something, and—”

“You’re not gonna...” Kaliyo fruitlessly waved her hand, trying to think of a way to phrase her objection. “I just, you know, right there, I—”

“I made an offer, and you refused. What’s there to talk about?” Katra interrupted.

This. This was why Katra was so infuriating and so damned interesting. Kaliyo hated that she got tongue-tied in her presence when she’d never failed to speak her mind before in her life. If she’d pressured her, kept asking for it, it would’ve been easy to keep saying no. But if she was that kind of person, Kaliyo wouldn’t be here in the first place.

As Kaliyo sat there wondering how she could possibly justify herself, Katra tugged her arm off and started heading for the door. “Come on, we do have a job to do here,” she chided.

 _She’s not getting off that easy_ , Kaliyo decided, and grabbed her by the waist, twirling her around so they faced each other. She leaned down and forcefully kissed her, pressing her hand into the small of Katra’s back, reveling in the intimacy of the contact. But she quickly came to realize that it wasn’t desire that she was forcing into Katra. There were tremors in her spine. Her lips weren’t moving.

She was afraid.

It only lasted for a moment before Katra shoved her off, brow furrowed in anger. “Maybe it's time we ended this arrangement,” she hissed. “It’s clear you can’t handle it. Stick to the fistfights. You win those more often.”

“Wait, Kat—”

“It’s ‘Cipher Nine.’ Or ‘agent,’ if you prefer,” Katra snapped. She barged through the door to the Cortess family courtyard and hopped on her speeder, forcing Kaliyo to run to catch up. As Kaliyo made to get on behind Katra, she held up a hand.

“Why don’t you head back to the ship while I’m deciding whether you’re a good fit for Imperial Intelligence?” Katra asked. Before Kaliyo could answer, the speeder rocketed away, leaving her stranded in the middle of an Alderaanian noble house.

Well, _fine_.

Kaliyo stewed in her anger as she tried to find the automated taxi pad that serviced the house. She didn’t need Katra or this job anyway, she told herself, she’d always gotten on just fine without her, maybe she should just jump ship before Katra decided to ‘liquidate’ her, go to House Organa and see what they were offering, maybe.

But maybe a drink first would be nice. And some company.

She told the droid at the pad to call her a taxi to the “cantina” (if you could call it that) near House Thul, and thought about what she should do as she waited for the one-person bike to fly itself out from whatever depo the Thuls kept them in. Working for the Organas, while it would piss Katra off, probably wouldn’t be much fun — nothing worse than working for nobles, even working for Imps. And while Kaliyo had never seen Katra rattled or angry before, she didn’t think it would change the way she worked, either. Katra, for all her efficiency, all her acting, all her lethality, liked to let people go without killing them. So waiting for her call to sort things out was probably the smartest option, anyway.

As the bike arrived, she thought, _Dammit, she’s still got me trapped._

However, as she flew over the House Thul grounds, she spotted something that cheered her up almost immediately. Sitting outside the cantina, chained to a lamppost that it could probably pull out of the ground if it really wanted to, was an enormous yellow chemilizard. It, too, perked up as she landed, the jaw underneath its cybernetic helmet opening and its tongue wagging back and forth. “Wreck!” she called, dismounting and running over to the beast. It put one enormous, clawed paw on her back and nuzzled its scarred face against her chest, growling happily.

“I don’t know what you’re doing here pal, but—” Kaliyo stopped herself. She knew exactly what Wreck has doing here. As she scratched under Wreck’s chin, she thought, _Well, the universe is looking out for me today._

She turned to the cantina entrance and listened for a moment. “She in there, bud?” Kaliyo asked, as though Wreck would let her know if she really was this lucky. Wreck, for his part, just laid his head on his friend’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“Sorry, buddy, but I’ve gotta see this,” Kaliyo said, rubbing the creature’s nose one last time and heading into the cantina, the smallest building in the entire courtyard. It was basically just one round room with two tables on either side, the bar nestled in the back. And there, at the table to the right, was someone very familiar to Kaliyo. A rattataki, clad in a black leather jacket, with beautiful tribal tattoos framing her bright gray eyes and long, thin, terrible scars running all over her bald head, criss-crossing her face all the way down to her neck, and below, if memory served. Before her she had a row of six shots of golden liquid, and as Kaliyo walked in she witnessed her down each one in quick succession, then shout to the bartender, “Is this seriously the strongest you’ve got?”

“Captain Drayl Darsuk,” Kaliyo said, breaking out in a grin.

“Neyara Tishon!” Drayl called back, raising an empty glass to her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Kaliyo replied, taking a seat across from her as the bartender came by and swept all her glasses into his arms. “Last I heard, you were running guns for Rogun.”

“Yeah, that job went south about as soon as it started. But honestly, things are looking up. Nok Drayen’s fortune is just about mine,” Drayl boasted, snatching a glass from the bartender as he returned. “But seriously, what about you? You went off with Anspi’shel after we rescued Wreck, didn’t you?”

“Somebody more interesting came along and whisked me away,” Kaliyo explained as Drayl took her first shot. “But things...with her, I mean, they’re complicated. I might have to bug out soon.”

“Well, you know, I’ve got an open spot on my crew. Well, okay, it’s filled but it’s this dunderhead farmboy with a stick up his ass, I can leave him here,” Drayl said, wiping her lips. “Okay, seriously, try this garbage and tell me if there’s any alcohol in it because I can’t tell.”

Kaliyo took one of Drayl’s glasses and threw it down her throat. It was sweet enough to choke on, with no bite whatsoever, and Kaliyo found herself annoyed that such a pointless liquor existed in the first place. “This is crap,” she said. “For nobles to drink without getting drunk.”

“See? I only came down to Thul because farmboy wouldn’t follow me around like a lost puppy so long as I’m in Imp territory. I thought the Imps were all about hard liquor and fighting! This place is the worst!” Drayl declared.

“Imps aren’t that fun. Except...” _Except maybe_ my _Imp_ , Kaliyo thought, but she corrected herself mid-sentence. “Except for their liquor. I’ve got two half-bottles of top-shelf Imp booze back at my ship. You in?”

“Neyara, I love you,” Drayl said, putting a hand to her chest. “Really, I mean it.”

“I just want to ride Wreck again,” Kaliyo said with a shrug and a hardly-repressed smirk.

“Let’s get going, then!” Drayl shouted, sweeping her glasses off the table and letting them shatter on the floor. As the bartender started sputtering, Drayl grabbed Kaliyo around the waist and ran out the door, laughing as she went. She took a running leap onto Wreck’s back, pulled her blaster from her holster, and shot the chain off of the lamppost. When the bartender ran out, yelling something about paying for that, Drayl pointed the blaster his way.

“Always make me pay in advance,” she suggested, firing a copper blast at his feet and smirking as he ran back inside, probably to call the authorities. As Kaliyo climbed on Wreck’s back, she took a look at Drayl’s smirk — there was none of Katra’s playfulness in her eyes, nothing but a cruel twist of her mouth, an “I win and more importantly, you lose” expression that Kaliyo remembered vividly from their brief stint of partnership. Other memories came flashing back in that instant, however, and those were enough to make Kaliyo grasp Drayl’s waist and bury her head into her back, smiling to herself as Wreck tore through the streets.

Kaliyo pointed out which dock to go to as Wreck maneuvered through the spaceport crowds, forcing the terrified masses out of his way with bellowing roars. Drayl patted his neck as they came up to the Phantom, and Wreck slid to a screeching halt as he dug his claws into the metal floor.

“Okay, that is not your ship. Who the hell are you running with these days?” Drayl asked, giving Kaliyo a quizzical look as she hopped off the lizard. “Go on, Wreck, find a nice corner and take a nap,” she added, nuzzling his head for a moment.

“I told you, it’s complicated,” Kaliyo said with a shrug. “Maybe we can get drunk and I’ll tell you about it.”

“You always had the best plans,” Drayl replied with a grin. “Let’s see this Imp liquor, then.”

Kaliyo led Drayl up the boarding ramp, and stopped when they encountered 2V-R8. “Twovee, where’d Katra put the booze she had delivered?” Kaliyo asked.

“The Sithspit and Chokerum have been locked in Cipher Nine’s quarters, Mistress Kaliyo. Who is your guest?”

“Captain Drayl Darsuk, wanted dead or alive,” Drayl said, taking a bow. “Look me up on the Holonet sometime, it’s great reading.”

“I am most pleased to make your acquaintance! Please don’t deactivate me!” 2V-R8 requested.

“Drayl, why don’t you go work on that lock while I get out of this armor?” Kaliyo suggested. “If I’m not gonna be fighting I don’t wanna deal with this chafing crap.”

“You only picked the best slicer in the galaxy! I’ll have it done before you know it.” Drayl hopped off down the hall and pulled a security spike from her jacket as Kaliyo headed to the cargo bay. She quickly unsealed her armor piece-by-piece, leaving the bodysuit underneath it intact as she stuffed the pieces into a plasteel cylinder. Katra was always needling her about proper storage, but the stuff stayed together, right?

Kaliyo considered just heading back to Drayl in the bodysuit, but then she had a thought. She took a quick visit to her room and grabbed the jacket she’d worn to the Cesspool off one of the chairs. She pulled it on as she walked through Katra’s open door to find Drayl sitting in Katra’s office chair with both bottles in her hands. “I knew you stole that!” Drayl said, pointing one of the bottles at Kaliyo’s jacket. “You know how hard it was to find another one? Had to go and win it in a sabacc game with this total creepshow.”

“You let me take it and you know it,” Kaliyo replied, taking a seat on Katra’s bed and reaching for the Sithspit.

“I did, I did,” Drayl agreed, handing off Kaliyo’s favored bottle and popping the top off of the other. “You look hot in it anyway.”

“I look hot in anything.” Kaliyo took the top off of the Sithspit and took a quick gulp, the cold fingers spreading through her body giving her shivers.

“Also true!” Drayl took a long pull from the Chokerum. As she finished it off, she sighed happily and wiped her lips. “Oh, that’s the stuff,” she murmured, a lopsided smile coming to her face. “Did that droid call you ‘Kaliyo’, by the way?”

“Yeah. Picked up a new name after we split,” Kaliyo said with a shrug.

“You’ll never get any rep that way!” Drayl objected. “How are people gonna shit themselves when they hear you’re coming if your name’s not out there?”

“I like surprises,” Kaliyo said. “There’s nothing surprising about you, or at least, there shouldn’t be. But as I remember it, people kept trusting you no matter how many partners you betray...”

“People are real stupid,” Dray agreed. “But you know I’d never stab you in the back. Girls like us — straight to the face.” After another drink, she asked, “So who the hell owns this ship, anyway?”

“She’s from Imperial Intelligence.” Kaliyo watched Drayl’s face for the response.

“Never thought I’d see you working in government, Neyara,” Drayl said, looking her up and down. “How is it?”

“It’s...” Kaliyo thought back over the past few weeks, dismantling terror cells, finding ancient mind traps in the desert, forging alliances with cartels on Nar Shaddaa. Pinned against the wall behind the Cesspool, Katra’s fingers inside of her, tasting cinnamon on her lips, and then being abandoned, and then being rejected. “It’s real damned interesting, I’ll give it that,” was what Kaliyo finally settled on. “The fights you get into in this line of work are a lot bigger. A lot more fun. But sometimes I miss the personal stuff, you know? I miss stealing just to sell, smashing someone’s teeth in just because they suck.”

Drayl took another swig from her bottle and leaned in closer to Kaliyo. “Well, you know, I’m not kidding about having room on my ship,” she said quietly, putting a hand on Kaliyo’s knee. “I’ve missed you. You don’t find many like you out there.”

“That so?” Kaliyo asked, taking another drink of her own, enjoying the mixture of chill and warmth that came from Drayl’s touch. “And what are you offering, huh?”

“Well, I got a wookiee on my ship now. Bet you’d like fighting with him,” Drayl said, scooting a bit closer. “Picked him up on Nar Shaddaa.”

“Really? Don’t you have problems with wookiees?” Kaliyo traced one of the scars running down Drayl’s head, reaching under her collar to follow it a little further.

“He told me that his people aren’t even supposed to attack with their claws, that I was fighting a crazy person, that he was so mortified that I had to meet one of the most insane wookiees out there,” Drayl explained. “I told him, hey, I like crazy people, thank you very much.”

“Mhmm. I know that much about you.” Kaliyo stroked Drayl’s arm, remembering the patterns of scars that marred the gray skin beneath the black leather.

Drayl smiled at her, then took another shot from her bottle before setting it down on Katra’s desk. “You’ve hardly drank a thing,” Drayl pointed out, leaning back in the chair.

“I don’t need to be too drunk for what you came here for. I think I might even do it without drinking at all,” Kaliyo said, eyeing up Drayl’s figure: thicker, more muscled than Katra’s, and unlike Katra she knew every inch of the flesh beneath her clothes. Beneath all the scars and the hateful expressions she liked to wear, she really was quite pretty — full lips, bright gray eyes, a finely-sculpted nose, an almost soft profile. _She would hate me if I ever told her that_ , Kaliyo thought with a smirk.

“You know me so well, Neyara.” Drayl grinned.

“And you don’t know me at all.”

“I know enough.” And with that, Drayl grabbed a handful of Kaliyo’s bodysuit, pulled her off the bed, and kissed her. Kaliyo's bottle clattered to the floor. As Kaliyo’s tongue explored Drayl’s scarred, copper-tasting lips, she closed her eyes and tried to forget about everything, tried to go back to when she was Drayl’s partner-in-crime and this was new. Yet even as she felt Drayl’s strong arm on her back, the nails digging into her suit, she knew precisely the steps Drayl would take here. There was the way Drayl shrugged out of her jacket as they kissed; there was the way Drayl forced Kaliyo’s hands to take hold of her shirt, letting her lift it over her head; then Drayl’s hand on her shoulder, forcing her to her knees.

Not that there was anything wrong with any of this -- Kaliyo’s heart raced as her hands explored the scarred gray flesh of Drayl’s chest, the feeling of being desired burning through her. She traced the thin, ragged lines with her fingers, crossing Drayl’s breasts and heading down beneath her waistband. Even being on her knees with Drayl’s strong arms keeping her there was invigorating -- the way she hissed, “ _Fuck me_ ,” as Kaliyo undid her fly sent a shiver through her. Still, this was something Kaliyo had done before. Drayl held nothing new for her. And she was already dreading the way this would end.

She tried to lose herself in the moment as she pulled Drayl’s pants down, tugging off her boots before finishing the job. Drayl spread her legs eagerly and gripped the back of Kaliyo’s head, nails digging into her scalp. “Come on, come _on_ ,” she urged, bending over and pushing Kaliyo’s head towards her shimmering, open slit. Kaliyo decided to tease her a little bit, softly parting her lips with her fingers. She pushed inside her, drawing out a string of Drayl’s excitement with her finger and greedily sucking it off, looking into those bright gray eyes. Drayl groaned, “Please,” again pushing on the back of Kaliyo’s head.

“If you insist,” Kaliyo purred, leaning forward and sealing her lips around Drayl’s clit. The short “Ah!” that Drayl let out made her want to laugh, but she had a job to do -- and Drayl would make more satisfying noises by the time she was done. As her tongue reached out to taste Drayl, she carefully teased at Drayl’s entrance with two fingers, waiting to hear her insist again. “In,” Drayl ordered, and Kaliyo obeyed, reveling in the soft moans and shaking legs she produced. Drayl was easy; a twist here, a little teeth, free hand gripping her inner thigh and digging in. Each was enough to produce a sharp gasp, punctuating Drayl’s escalating moans, until she felt the sudden release of Drayl’s grip.

Drayl’s weight shifted as she threw herself back in the chair, biting her lower lip as Kaliyo thrust inside her, lapped up her juices, kneaded her flesh with her free hand. “Neyara,” she whimpered quietly, and then she _convulsed_ , her whole body vibrating and twitching as she came. She let out only tiny, breathy sounds, her breath coming in spurts as she quivered. Kaliyo retracted herself from between her legs, running a hand up her slit to produce one last gasp. And there were the tears sliding down Drayl’s cheeks from her closed eyes, her almost pained expression visible as Kaliyo rose to her feet. Just like before. Just like always.

“Neyara...” Drayl breathed, leaning forward in her seat and clutching Kaliyo around the waist. She rested her head against Kaliyo’s stomach, tears staining her black bodysuit. Kaliyo knew the next words that would come out of Drayl’s mouth, and clenched her jaw, waiting for them to come.

“I love you.”

 _Ugh_.

Luckily, Kaliyo thought as Drayl stood up and pushed her down onto the bed, this stage only lasted a couple of minutes as Drayl calmed down. She allowed Drayl to lay down beside her and bury her head into her shoulder. “I really, really missed you,” Drayl murmured, laying an arm across Kaliyo’s chest. “You were the only one who got me. Ever. You know I’m not lying.”

“No, because you’re the worst liar I’ve ever seen,” Kaliyo replied, smiling at the memory of Drayl trying to claim she was a “chemilizard supervisor.” And then she thought of the way Katra could seamlessly claim to be the Red Blade even as the real one was coming to kill her. The way she’d pretend to be a crippled drug addict to get her hands on deadly stims. The Cesspool.

 _Stop it_ , she scolded herself. _This may be your best chance to bug out. Don’t get like this. You’re as bad as her._

“I wasn’t kidding about getting a spot on my ship, you know,” Drayl said after a moment, trailing a hand down Kaliyo’s front. “Everyone from the old days is gone. It was just me for a while. And most of the time, that’s good, but...” Drayl sighed. “Will you think about it?”

“You might be a bad liar but nobody’s ever kept you down. Doubt the Imps could track me to you, or you to anywhere,” Kaliyo said. “It depends, you know? If she doesn’t fire me, or try to kill me, then I kind of want to see this through to the end. We’re working on big stuff, and I feel like it’s finishing up sooner, not later. After that, might be time.”

Drayl kissed her, slowly this time, without any of the demand that came with the first. “I’ll take it,” she whispered, reaching for the zipper on Kaliyo’s collar. “I bet I can win you over.”

 _If you could do that, I’d still be with you_ , Kaliyo thought, but like Drayl, she’d take what she could get at this point. The tender affections were still pleasant, even if they weren’t coming from the right person. Drayl’s soft kisses, the way she slowly unzipped her bodysuit, the slow, careful exploration of her rough hands, none of it carried the ownership that Katra had put into every one of their little incidents...but it wasn’t quite as breathtaking, either. Kaliyo let Drayl peel her out of the bodysuit, throwing her jacket to the floor in front of the bed and laying back down just as Drayl decided to straddle her. Then Drayl lifted one of her legs up and Kaliyo realized what she was doing, and felt a fresh flush of warmth to her lower body as Drayl carefully, slowly positioned herself against her. As Drayl’s slick, hot lips slid against her own, she gasped, her heart racing at not only the sensation Drayl was giving her but at the way she thrust her hips, the obscenity of her position totally unimportant to her as she rode Kaliyo.

Kaliyo leaned into the moment, closing her eyes and grabbing at Drayl’s thigh to hold her steady. Each of Drayl’s constant movements sent shocks up Kaliyo’s spine, building a climax inside her, her clit aching with pleasure. Drayl bent over and moved one hand to Kaliyo’s breast as she picked up her tempo, squeezing as hard as she could. Kaliyo moaned, throwing her head back and moving her arms behind her to support her, to make sure she didn’t lose contact, not now, not as she was about to--

Drayl came before she did, it was obvious by the way her lips quivered and her whole body shook against Kaliyo, but Kaliyo barely had time to register it before she was blinded by release. She let out a choking sound, letting her arms give under her as she fell back to the bed, Drayl’s body smothering her a second later. She wrapped her limbs around Drayl, opening her mouth and playing with Drayl’s tongue until the shiver went out of her body, letting out one final moan as she released her hold and let Drayl collapse on top of her. In the moments after, there was only Drayl’s hot breath on her collarbone as Kaliyo tried to control her own panting.

“Is she coming back soon?” Drayl mumbled into her chest.

Kaliyo stroked Drayl’s back, trying to think of an answer.

“‘Cuz I could do this all day,” Drayl added, lifting her head up for a moment and taking a sniff, wiping away fresh tears. She rolled off of Kaliyo and laid face-down in Katra’s bed, laying an arm across her chest. “I love you,” she repeated into the covers.

Kaliyo’s eyelids felt heavy, and she yawned as she said, “I don’t know. She was pretty pissed.”

“What’d you do?”

“Kissed her.”

Drayl snorted. “You got brass, Neyara. I wouldn’t touch an agent of _any_ government, let alone the Imps.”

“She started it.”

“I thought you always charged in headfirst to that kind of thing. You sure did with me,” Drayl teased, rolling onto her side and tickling Kaliyo’s nipple. Kaliyo remained silent, furrowing her brow. She did do that, didn’t she? So why hadn’t she thought of going after Katra before Nar Shaddaa? Had she just been played into thinking she was totally unavailable? How much of this entire thing with Katra had just been Katra acting the whole time they’d been traveling?

Had Katra’s fear in her arms been the only time the real Katra had shown herself?

“Hey, you okay?” Drayl asked, nestling her body against Kaliyo’s.

“I’m always fine.” Kaliyo closed her eyes and turned over, letting Drayl spoon her and trying to enjoy it.

Drayl kissed the back of her neck. “If you’re ever not, I’ll drop you my frequency,” she said quietly. “Call me anytime.”

Kaliyo didn’t know when she passed into sleep; she felt it coming, and considered moving or getting up, but somehow it felt perversely satisfying to be sleeping naked in Katra’s bed. _That’ll show her_ was her last waking thought.

“Is this really the best you have, Kaliyo?” were the acidic words that woke her up. She felt cold, and realized that there was no one beside her as she turned to lay on her back and face Katra’s disapproving red glare.

“Dunno what you’re talking about, agent,” Kaliyo replied, heart pounding in her chest despite herself. Being this exposed before Katra was annoyingly difficult to ignore.

Katra sighed. “Next time you bring a stranger home to fuck, try someone a little less notorious, will you? I had to answer so many stupid questions about a chemilizard. Get your armor on. We have a house of assassins to invade.”

“She wasn’t a stranger,” Kaliyo said, getting up and stretching luxuriously, daring Katra to comment. But Katra’s red lenses remained right at eye level, her head never tilting to see Kaliyo’s body. As a hot flush came to her cheeks, she bent down and quickly snatched up her bodysuit, noting that Drayl had stolen the jacket back -- and both bottles from the Cesspool.

Katra put a hand on her hip. “Today, please,” she said, tapping her index finger against her side.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” Kaliyo grumbled. “Guess you decided I’m all right, then?”

“Yes. But nothing happened on Nar Shaddaa. Are we clear?”

“Yeah. We’re clear.” Kaliyo stepped out of the room. She looked back, just for a second, and before the door closed behind her she saw Katra put a hand to her forehead, stare down at her feet, and let out what sounded like a sob.


	4. Don't Push It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katra breaks her own rules, and Kaliyo's frustrations finally come to a head...

She was _amazing_.

Kaliyo could barely speak as they made their way back through Jadus’ ship, too busy staring slack-jawed at Katra. “You got brass, agent,” she repeated, bringing a smug smile to her face.

“Sith always think they have the upper hand. It’s why they’re so easy to predict,” Katra said, stepping over the body of one of Jadus’ followers. “Show them they’re on the losing side, and they crumble. Usually they go out in a blaze of glory, but Jadus isn’t the type.”

“You handled yourself admirably, Cipher,” Vector added from the other side of Katra. “There aren’t many who can talk down a member of the Dark Council and survive. We are impressed.”

Kaliyo frowned at bug-boy, but chose to restrain her tongue for once as they entered the Phantom’s airlock. This was a good day, and there was no reason to get all pissy when Katra had just saved thousands of people with nothing but her charm and a backbone of durasteel. As the airlock cycled, she put a hand to her throat. None of the fun physical markers of being choked, of course. Sith were the worst.

“Vector, why don’t you set a course for our apartment on Dromund Kaas? It’s been a long assignment,” Katra said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I could use a rest.”

“Of course, Cipher,” Vector replied, walking out of the airlock as soon as the door opened. Before Kaliyo could know what to do with herself after this insane day, Katra whirled around, pinned her against the wall, and kissed her.

This wasn’t the kind of kiss that took place behind a shady Nar Shaddaa cantina — Kaliyo could feel that from the start. After the first push, Katra’s hands were gentle, wrapping around her waist rather than pinning her wrists to the wall or forcing their way under her clothes. Kaliyo had no idea what brought this on, but as she tasted Katra for the first time in too long, as she placed her own hands on the small of Katra’s back, she found that she didn’t care. It felt almost like Katra was finally giving in. Her kisses weren’t demanding, or forceful, or anything but — grateful. That was the word Kaliyo thought of. _She’s grateful to be alive._

She found more proof of this as their bodies pressed together, their armor plates scraping against each other. There was the tremble again, the fear she’d felt on Alderaan. Kaliyo moved a hand to Katra’s neck, carefully taking hold, trying to ensure that she kept going, and that she knew that this was fine, this was okay. And she might’ve let out a little moan, but she couldn’t really say.

Katra finally closed her lips and moved back, just a hair, enough for Kaliyo to look into where her eyes should be. Kaliyo wished that Katra wasn’t so unreadable. That she could look into her eyes and really know what she was thinking. But the soft caress of Katra’s hand on her cheek was a clue, she guessed. And Kaliyo wanted _more_. She leaned forward and closed her eyes, knowing now that this was what Katra needed, not force, not a push.

And yet, it didn’t work.

Katra _fled_ — that was the only word for it. In an instant, Kaliyo lost every indication of her presence, her hands on her waist, the heat of her body, the sound of her heavy breathing. Kaliyo opened her eyes to see an empty hallway. She clenched her fists. _Blast it, I do everything right and she’s still pulling this?_

She stomped out of the airlock and into the hall, catching a glimpse of Katra’s door as it closed. She pounded her armored gauntlets against it, wanting to smash the damn thing down and get an explanation out of this ridiculous woman. “What the hell was that?!” she yelled, impotently slamming her fist into the door again.

“Mistress Kaliyo, what are you doing?” Vector asked, running over from the cockpit. “If you have some problem with Cipher Nine, you should—”

“Stay out of this, freak!” Kaliyo snarled, turning to face him. “You know, we were just fine before you came along, so shut up and get back to your hole!”

“We didn’t mean to cause offense,” Vector murmured, looking away. “Our apologies.”

“Oh, stop it!” Kaliyo sighed, throwing her hands up into the air. “Get angry, get defensive or something, hit me, order me around, quit being so—”

The door slid open, and Katra stepped between them. Kaliyo went quiet as she faced down Katra’s hard cybernetic stare. “Are you picking a fight with my crew, Kaliyo?”

“What, you want in on it? ‘Cause it’s starting to seem like you want me to kick your ass,” Kaliyo spat back, heat rising in her face.

“Cipher, what is she—”

“Vector, would you please fly the ship? Our business is not your problem. Kaliyo shouldn’t have made it your problem,” Katra said pointedly. “Kaliyo, why don’t you get back to your bunk and...drink, or practice shooting, or whatever it is you do to blow off steam.”

“You know damn well what I do to blow off steam,” Kaliyo hissed. “Hey, I’ve never fucked a bug before. Vector, wanna come back with me?”

“Enough.” Katra grabbed Kaliyo by the collar and practically threw her into the captain’s quarters. Kaliyo saw a brief flash of Vector’s very confused expression before the door slid shut and Katra turned to face her. “What are you doing?”

“You’re driving me crazy!” Kaliyo shouted back, clenching her fists at her side. “What am I doing? What are you doing, you psycho schutta?! First you fuck me like you own me for a month, then you dump me ‘cuz I _might_ wanna give somethin’ back, and now you’re—” Kaliyo clutched at her head, digging her armored fingers into her scalp. “What do you want from me?” she pleaded, finally.

Katra looked rattled, her careful military posture suddenly turning stiff and tense. She took a moment before answering Kaliyo. “I want you to leave,” she said, and for the first time ever, Kaliyo could tell when she was lying. The confident swagger in her voice simply wasn’t there. Her words wavered as they came out of her.

“Tell me the truth,” Kaliyo demanded, stepping up to her and forcing her back towards the door. Katra drew in a sharp gasp, shrinking before Kaliyo, her back against the door, her fingers spread out behind her. “What is your problem?!” Kaliyo screamed, slamming her fist into the metal beside Katra’s head.

Katra’s lower lip quivered, and Kaliyo suddenly realized where she was, what she was doing. She took a step back as Katra shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Hey, whoa, uh...” Kaliyo stammered, putting her hands out in front of her.

“I’m sorry,” Katra whispered, looking down. “I know, all right? I know I haven’t been fair to you. I...” She sighed, putting a hand over her lenses. “I thought I could keep this under control.”

“Under control?” Kaliyo repeated, furrowing her brow.

“You. Me. This...the fact that I want you so badly. I _hate_ it,” Katra continued, leaning against the door. “From the first time we met on Hutta, when we traded threats, you...you excited me. The more we worked together, the more I tried to find some way to suppress it, to think past it. I don’t _want_ to want women,” Katra said suddenly, self-loathing in her voice. “But eventually, it just...it didn’t work anymore. So I tried to find a way to control _you_ , instead.”

“So what happened on Nar Shaddaa...” Kaliyo murmured, putting a hand on her hip. “What, you planned that?”

“I practiced it. On Dromund Kaas, and Balmorra, when I said I was going to gather information? I was...picking up women at cantinas. Treating them the way I treated you. It seemed to work. I, uh...” She looked away. “I learned a lot. But I didn’t think about what living with you after it would be like. I thought I could keep it up forever. And I thought you’d be fine with it; I thought, she’s selfish, she’ll appreciate that I’m not making any demands for myself. I let my...appetites get the better of me. Just like I did in the airlock. It’s pathetic, I know.” She sank against the door, falling into a fetal position. “But I don’t know what to do about it now. I’ve screwed everything up.”

“So...wait.” Kaliyo pursed her lips. “What’s wrong with wanting girls? You or your Empire got something against—”

“No!” Katra exclaimed, looking up. “It’s—Kaliyo, look, you have a past that I never ask about. Let me keep mine, for now.”

“All right. Fine. So where are we going from here?” Kaliyo asked. “It’s gotten pretty obvious that what we were doin’ before wasn’t enough for you, either. It was just easy to manage, right?”

Katra sighed. “Yeah.”

“So...let’s figure it out. I sleep in here tonight, sex, no sex, whatever. We both figure out if we like just doing the normal couple lovey-dovey crap for a while, no playing each other, or getting all dommy, or any of the other crap we’ve pulled on each other over the past couple months. It’s been a long damn day.” Kaliyo reached down to take Katra’s hand. “I’m _tired_. Let’s sleep on it.”

Katra let Kaliyo pull her to her feet, and as they came together, Kaliyo gave her a quick kiss. “And did you really practice on other chicks before you went for me? That’s cute, agent.”

“You wouldn’t accept anything but the best,” Katra said, some of her old self coming back into her voice.

Kaliyo smiled, then got to work on her armor, letting pieces fall to the floor in a haphazard pile as Katra walked over to her footlocker and got to work on her own attire. When Kaliyo was down to her bodysuit, she shoved her armor over to a corner of the room with her foot,then turned to take a look at Katra. Her breath caught in her throat.

She’d seen Katra in revealing clothes before, but she’d never seen her this bare. Her underwear wasn’t even something sexy or lacy, just plain black bra and panties, and yet still it set Kaliyo’s heart racing to see so much of her, to see her so — vulnerable. Without clothes to accentuate her curves or her muscles, she was just a skinny, small-breasted woman, and she was gorgeous. Katra caught her staring and blushed, which wasn’t something Kaliyo ever expected to see, and that just made Kaliyo want to go over there and take her right now. She stopped herself, however; Katra probably wouldn’t appreciate it, if the kiss on Alderaan was any indication. Kaliyo found herself annoyed that she cared about breaking Katra’s trust.

Instead, she simply peeled herself out of her bodysuit and let Katra stare right back, giving her a flirty smile as she sauntered over to the bed. She flopped down onto the bed and rolled over, patting the spot next to her. Katra pulled the covers back before laying down, facing Kaliyo, their lips inches apart. Katra carefully caressed Kaliyo’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Have I ever told you you’re beautiful, Kaliyo?”

“No, but you should start. Say enough nice things about me and we might get somewhere.” Kaliyo grinned at her.

“All right. But only if you turn over.”

Kaliyo shrugged and rolled over, and Katra took the opportunity to pull the covers over the two of them and wrap herself around Kaliyo. Kaliyo wanted to laugh at the soft, tickling kiss Katra gave the back of her neck. “You want to know why I couldn’t resist you today?” Katra whispered in her ear. “It was the way you pulled your blaster on Jadus. No fear. No hesitation.”

“You’re the one who talked him down,” Kaliyo reminded her. “Said it wouldn’t matter if he killed you, and all that. Bet your life on it.”

“That’s because I’m a planner, a schemer...and I was afraid. I didn’t want to actually have to fight him. I was terrified, panicking, constructing an argument on the fly and praying it’d work. But you...” Katra’s arms tightened around Kaliyo. “I wish I could be like you sometimes.”

“Nah, then you’d never get anywhere,” Kaliyo snorted. “It’s not your style. But hey, if it gets you wet, then you found the right girl.”

Katra stayed silent for a moment, her breath hot on Kaliyo’s neck. “Maybe I have,” she murmured, drumming her fingertips on Kaliyo’s bare stomach. Kaliyo closed her eyes and smiled, waiting to see if Katra wanted more. Katra seemed to have trouble deciding, herself; her hands kept stroking Kaliyo’s skin, but stopped short of actually grabbing at her or going beyond her stomach.

Katra let out a low chuckle. “You know, it’s hard to know what to do when you’re actually naked in my bed. It’s like we’ve reversed the way things are supposed to go.”

“Easier to fuck me when I’m fully clothed and outside, huh?” Kaliyo answered with a laugh. “Do you want to or not?”

“Maybe I’ll keep teasing you.” Katra pushed her breasts into Kaliyo’s back. “You always liked that.”

“I’ll get you back. You know I will.”

Katra tensed up for a moment, but then relaxed against Kaliyo. She nuzzled her head into Kaliyo's shoulder.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

 


	5. Death Marks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kaliyo's four marks are all taken care of, Katra asks her to return the favor -- just once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: While this chapter does not feature any specific, detailed, or fetishized depiction of sexual violence, discussion is had of its existence and traumatic effects. Please be safe.

This Sith had an annoying face.

Kaliyo knew the thought was kind of stupid when it came to her, but there it remained nonetheless. She found herself staring into the purple eyes of the heavyset, blue twi’lek, trying to figure out why she was so annoyed. The tiger-stripes marking her eyes and lekku were beautiful, and her eyes were striking. What _was_ it?

“Do you want something?” the Sith droned, and Kaliyo finally figured it out. It was her eyebrows. They never moved, those flat straight lines above her eyes, and they were a little too low, and they made it look like she was utterly bored by everything she was doing, including responding to Kaliyo’s own increasingly weird behavior. Kaliyo tried to shake it off.

“Well, yeah, what we came here for,” Kaliyo snorted, shifting her glance to the door at the end of the grey-blue hall. “You did pretty good when you teamed up with Ka--Cipher Nine on Tatooine. Heard about your trouble with Thanaton, and I thought, well, maybe you could help us out.”

“And why is an Imperial Intelligence agent interested in killing one of Thanaton’s minions? Isn’t that something that gets you into trouble?” the Sith asked. Still no eyebrow raise, and her voice was so dripping with contempt that Kaliyo wondered how a person who was that bored all the time stayed alive.

“Look, man, I didn’t ask. We were exchanging favors. She gave me this after she took care of some things for me.”

“Well, I suppose you’re doing me a favor as well, now. I couldn’t hope to find her without the codes and addresses you so thoughtfully provided...but isn’t coming here yourself a risk? This could be traced back to you if there are cameras,” the Sith warned.

“We’re Imperial _Intelligence_ , right?” Kaliyo sighed in exasperation, tapping the side of her head. “We’ve taken care of it. We just need you to weaken her. I’ll do the rest.”

“Very well.” The Sith turned and strolled down towards the door at the end of the hallway. As Kaliyo was about to follow, she felt a hand slip into hers and squeeze for just a brief moment, and she felt an irritating warmth in her chest. Katra wasn’t supposed to show herself in any way before this stupid Thanaton lackey was kneeling on the ground, and Kaliyo wasn’t supposed to like Katra’s little love games. She took a quick glance around and saw that at least Katra had kept the stealth field generator on, then found her way beside the Sith they’d hired to be their bodyguard.

Their Sith lazily placed her palm on the intercom button beside the door. “Lord Jarona, is it? Open the door or I will destroy it,” she said as matter-of-factly as possible.

“Oh stars, Shardyn! Shardyn, I, I know about you, listen, this doesn’t have to come to blows--” the voice from the other end pleaded, but Shardyn simply took her lightsaber off of her belt, ignited the purple blade, and drew a neat circle in the center of the door before Jarona had finished her sentence. With a wave of her hand, the circle tore free of the door and rocketed into the apartment beyond, narrowly missing a trembling middle-aged woman and smashing through a plate-glass window. Kaliyo felt the cold Dromund Kaas breeze come in as rain spattered the carpet.

“For once, I am not here to gain an ally, Jarona,” Shardyn informed the shaking woman, putting her lightsaber back on her belt. “Or, I suppose, I am but it is not your allegiance I am interested in.”

Jarona nervously drew her red blade, gripping it in both hands as Kaliyo filed in behind Shardyn. “Don’t come any closer!” she said, a crack in her voice. “I’m warning you!”

“Honestly. Pathetic.” Shardyn waved her arm and Jarona’s lightsaber flew from her hands and out of the broken window. “Put up a little resolve, will you? What a sad excuse for a Sith you are. No wonder my associates want you dead. You weaken the Empire with your position in Thanaton’s inner circle.”

“Who is that?” Jarona demanded, pointing a bony finger at Kaliyo. “What is this all about?”

“Not your concern, I’m afraid.”

Shardyn held out both hands and sent a torrent of lightning into Jarona’s robes, forcing her to her knees as she cried out in pain. “That’s better,” Shardyn said as she approached Jarona’s prone form, standing right in front of her and looking down in what looked like a sort of bored disgust. “Now, what was it you had planned for her?”

Katra suddenly flashed into view behind Jarona, her vibroknife buried in Jarona’s spine. Jarona cried out and collapsed, forcing Shardyn to take a step back. Katra left her knife there as she circled around to Jarona’s side. She knelt down and grabbed her by the chin. “Look at me,” she demanded, her voice a raw and furious hiss. “Look into my _eyes_ ,” she added, the red light of her lenses reflecting in Jarona’s sickly yellow eyes.

“No, no, no, not you, no, you, you don’t want to do this,” Jarona pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You, you can’t, you’re my slave--”

“I just wanted you to know what it felt like. And now I can show you. Shardyn?” Katra asked, looking up. “Put your hands over her eyes, and give her every volt of lightning you have. Let’s find out if it’ll help her develop Force sight.”

“As you ask, Cipher,” Shardyn said, lifting Jarona with the Force and suspending her in midair.

“No, no, please, don’t do this--”

“Be silent.” Shardyn placed her palms over Jarona’s eyes, gripping her head with sharp black nails. Jarona screamed as her skull sparked and her greying hair ignited, her body convulsing despite its paralysis until finally all was silent, and Jarona’s lifeless body fell to the ground with an unceremonious _clang_. Kaliyo stared at the smouldering holes in Jarona’s face.

“Well, that was gruesome, but I’m going to give you some credit and assume you had a reason for such a specific request,” Shardyn said, giving Jarona’s body an idle kick. “I’ll have your holofrequency now. I will expect a return for this favor some day.”

As Katra walked over to Shardyn and brought her datapad out of her coat, the last two minutes replayed themselves over and over in Kaliyo’s mind. Her gaze turned from Jarona’s corpse to Katra’s lenses, still impenetrable, her face a mask of business as she recited her holofrequency to the Sith. Then, “Come on, Kaliyo. We’re done here.” And Katra’s hand was suddenly clenched around her upper arm as they marched out of the ruined apartment, leaving Shardyn behind. Kaliyo spared one last look at the Sith, and saw those immobile eyebrows suddenly narrowed in deep focus on Katra’s retreating head. But Katra’s grip was firm, her strides long, and Kaliyo couldn’t summon up the will to stop her and ask all the questions that were on her mind. As they entered the turbolift at the end of the hall, Katra’s grip relaxed slightly, and she let out a short sigh.

“Getting in contact with Shardyn was a good idea. You did well, Kaliyo.” Kaliyo looked over at her and cocked her head, trying to gauge how Katra was feeling, trying to figure out exactly the history behind Katra’s request. But there was nothing, not yet.

They had been relatively ‘official’ for almost a month at this point, and it was _awesome_ \-- but Katra was still a closed book, despite Kaliyo laying out four chapters of her own life out for Katra to gawk at. Katra still wouldn’t really let Kaliyo go as far as she wanted; the most she’d gotten was toplessness and heavy makeouts, while Katra had full and unquestioned access to Kaliyo.

When she made the offer to pay Katra back for the four marks she’d helped her take down, Katra had laughed it off at first. But later, in the dark and the quiet, she’d given her a name. And Kaliyo had been stupid enough to think this was her ticket in. She looked over at Katra’s stone face and wondered what the hell she was really doing with this woman.

After a few moments of silence as the turbolift descended, Kaliyo worked up the nerve to ask, “So what was all that?”

“At home,” was the only response she received.

“Home” was the apartment that Katra had somehow managed to swindle a Sith Lord out of shortly before her arrival on Hutta, a simply massive penthouse that Kaliyo and Katra had spent their leave lazing about when they weren’t planet-hopping for revenge. It wasn’t far, in fact, from this building -- nothing but a short, silent taxi ride away.

Kaliyo followed her into the room on the top floor, with a window staring out into the rain. Katra stood facing the view, tension in her shoulders. Kaliyo hovered in the doorway, trying to figure out if she was really welcome.

“Thank you,” Katra whispered. Her hands shook as she raised them to the sides of her face. “It doesn’t make it better. But it’s over.”

“What is over?” Kaliyo asked, trying not to let her impatience slip into her voice.

“I’ll explain. Just...just wait a second.” Kaliyo heard a couple of distinctive _clicks_ , and then saw Katra’s hands lower to her chest -- her red lenses resting in her palms. She froze, waiting for Katra to turn.

When she did, it wasn’t quite what she expected.

After all that in Jarona’s apartment, and the scar tissue around Katra’s lenses, Kaliyo had made the assumption that Jarona had struck Katra’s eyes out. But there was simply...nothing. There had never even been sockets where those circular scars radiated from, it was nothing but smooth skin, with the implanted connectors as the only feature in that flesh.

“This is what I really am. I’m not human,” Katra said, her lenses rattling in her hands. “I’m--I’m a freak.”

Kaliyo couldn’t speak, couldn’t find words. What did you say to that? But Katra seemed determined to press on, anyway.

“At Korriban, they told me I was a Miraluka. That I’d been taken in the first war, as a slave, as an orphan. My people...we’re all supposed to be Force sensitive. We see through the Force. That’s the idea.” She clenched her fists around her lenses to stop the shaking. “But I’m blind. I’ve always been blind. At the academy, they thought I would be special, but they didn’t really know about my species. They thought it was supposed to develop later. Then that...that woman wanted me. She took me. Thought she’d impress everyone with the fancy alien apprentice.”

Katra stopped. “Can--can you please take me to the bed? Put these somewhere safe?” she asked, holding out her eyes. “I--I can’t--”

Kaliyo immediately rushed over and took her by the shoulders, guiding her to sit on the edge of the bed. She carefully plucked Katra’s lenses from her hands and placed them on the nightstand, then took a seat beside Katra on the bed. Katra’s fingers groped for something, and Kaliyo, without thinking, held out her hand and let her take it. Their hands shook as Katra dug her nails in.

“It started almost right away. I--I was, I think twelve? Thirteen? She would come into my room at night and--and--that’s why, that’s why I can’t, why when you touch me sometimes I freeze, I’m thinking back to--to when I was blind and she wanted me and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Katra sniffed, and Kaliyo knew that if she had eyes, there would be tears staining her coat by now. “As I got older, she--she started to get angry. That my Force skills weren’t coming. That I was blind. She tried...she tried everything to make me see. It never worked. She would channel lightning into my face, heal me, and start again, screaming at me to fight back.”

“Eventually, she gave up. Shunted me off to a military academy. Once I was away from Sith, it turned out that I was actually pretty smart. When I got my first implants, it all changed. I could see. I could read. I could fight.” She squeezed Kaliyo’s hand. “And I turned into a pretty good liar when everyone asked me where I came from, what my life had been. I couldn’t say that a Sith had abused me. I would’ve been a risk.”

“That’s it. That’s me, Kaliyo.” She sniffed again and laid her head on Kaliyo’s shoulder. “That’s all I am.”

A moment passed between them, the length of a sigh. “To hell with that,” Kaliyo finally said, clenching Katra’s hand. “You’re the Red Blade. You’re the woman who destroyed four terror cells and basically took over the entire damn planets they were on at the same time without breaking a sweat. You’re the agent who got Jadus to run off into the dark with his tail between his legs. You’re Cipher-frickin’-Nine, and you’re more than some Sith Lord’s pet project. Screw her. She never deserved you,” Kaliyo spat. “This Empire doesn’t deserve you.”

Katra wrapped her arms around Kaliyo and held her tight, burying her head under Kaliyo’s chin, her breath hot and erratic. Katra shook against her, opening her mouth, closing it again, trying to find something. Kaliyo could feel three words, hovering in the air, ever unspoken between the two of them.

Oh, why not, at this point?

“Hey,” she said, returning the embrace. “And, also, I love you.”

Katra let out a short sob and clung tighter.

After Kaliyo spent a little longer stroking Katra’s back, she decided that this would be more comfortable laying down. Katra fell asleep in her arms as Kaliyo wondered if she should have said what she said. Katra, for her part, was done with talking, and Kaliyo couldn’t blame her one bit. As she lay with her body pressed against Katra’s back, anger swelled within her -- that this weird, exciting, dangerous woman had to be trapped serving this bunch of dictators. She thought back to her days on Brentaal, and imagined giving that kind of freedom to Katra one day.

They’d be queens of the galaxy, if only they could escape these damned Sith.

 

* * *

 

Katra’s body jerked, jolting Kaliyo awake. “I’m blind, I’m blind again, no, no, no -- get _away_ from me--”

As Katra struggled against her embrace, Kaliyo held tight. “Hey, hey, Kat, it’s me, it’s Kaliyo,” she whispered in her ear, feeling a drop in her stomach as she realized that she’d triggered a nightmare.

Katra’s breathing stopped, then released in a long sigh. “Kaliyo,” she repeated, the fight going out of her muscles.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s me. Do--do you want your eyes back?”

“Please,” Katra murmured, disentangling herself from Kaliyo and sitting up against the headboard carefully. “I--it’s just--”

“I get it, Kat. It’s fine,” Kaliyo assured her, rolling over and grabbing the inert lenses from the nightstand. As she sat up, she put them in Katra’s waiting hands. She watched, entranced, as Katra held one up to a connector and it automatically extended a piece into the side, lighting the lens. Then the other. And then, a smile.

“I missed seeing you,” Katra said, lightly touching Kaliyo’s cheek.

“Don’t get soft on me, Kat,” Kaliyo warned, feeling a smile come to her own lips despite herself.

“And when did it turn into ‘Kat’, not ‘Katra’ or ‘agent?’” Katra teased, leaning towards Kaliyo.

“It’s faster.” Goosebumps rose on Kaliyo’s skin. Something buzzed in her gut, and heat flared in her cheeks as Katra’s hand lighted on her shoulder.

“Of course.”

There was a moment of silence broken only by Kaliyo’s heavy breathing as Katra’s lenses bore into her eyes. Then, as Katra’s hand moved to the side of Kaliyo’s neck, her fingers dancing on gray flesh, she whispered, “I love you too.”

Kaliyo shook as she tried to close the distance between them, putting an arm around Katra, a hand on the small of her back. This time, Katra did not flinch away, or turn the tables and go straight for Kaliyo’s body. And it felt so, so good to kiss her and be kissed back in turn.

“Kaliyo,” Katra breathed as they broke apart, “I’m ready.”

After all they’d already done, it sounded absurd; but Kaliyo knew what she really meant, and her heart raced as she took hold of Katra’s jacket. Warmth flooded her system, Katra’s hands on her waist, then gone for a moment as Kaliyo rolled the trenchcoat off Katra’s shoulders and threw it to the floor behind her. “Slow,” Katra asked as Kaliyo gripped the bottom of her black shirt. “Please.”

Kaliyo let out a long breath, releasing her grip for the moment and leaning in for another kiss. _Control yourself for once_ , she ordered herself, moving her hands to Katra’s back and pulling her against her body. _Don’t rush this._

After a long, soft kiss, Katra took hold of Kaliyo’s wrists and directed them to take her shirt off. Kaliyo wanted to lift it just over her eyes and kiss her there, but the memory of Katra’s panicked “I’m blind,” stopped her and made her practically tear it off as quickly as possible. Katra let out a sharp gasp, her body freezing for a second, but then she relaxed into Kaliyo’s arms and let out a happy sigh, then a laugh as Kaliyo kissed her neck. Kaliyo thought of taking a moment, asking if she was sure, but she decided she had to trust Katra’s word--and her ability to speak her mind. And of course, desire drove her too as she unhooked Katra’s plain black bra. Her back was smooth under Kaliyo’s hands, her skin warm, enticing.

As soon as Katra shrugged out of her bra and threw it on top of the rest of her clothes,  Kaliyo cupped her breasts, giving her a jump. She made a high-pitched “mmmf!” sound, and sucked in air through her teeth as Kaliyo leaned down, pinching her rock-hard dark brown nipples between her fingers. Every little reaction sent a thrill through Kaliyo, fed a new addiction; even at their heaviest, Katra had kept herself thoroughly under control, never making a sound beyond labored breathing. Now, however, as she took Katra’s nipple into her mouth, Katra let herself go and let out gasps and little moans, panting as she gripped Kaliyo’s head.

Katra sank back into the pillows, letting Kaliyo lie on top of her, wrapping her arms around her as Kaliyo continued to play with Katra’s chest. After Kaliyo gave her a soft bite, her body bucked, and the hand on the back of Kaliyo’s neck dug its nails in.

“Lower,” Katra whimpered, releasing her hold for the moment. Kaliyo rose up and moved down the bed, aiming to get Katra’s boots off as quickly as possible. She heard the sound of Katra’s belt buckle as she tossed the boots against the wall, and turned back to grab the belt and pull it out of its loops. Finally, she took hold of Katra’s pants and holster and stripped them off, leaving Katra in only plain black panties, as naked as Kaliyo had ever seen her.

Kaliyo slowly trailed a hand up Katra’s inner thighs, watching her spread her legs by instinct. She stopped at the edge of Katra’s underwear, and waited. Katra lifted herself off the bed, her legs rising on either side of Kaliyo as she hooked her thumbs into her panties and rolled them down, letting Kaliyo finish the job. After Kaliyo had let them drop onto the floor and resumed straddling Katra, she took a moment to stare.

Kaliyo was used to seeing a patch of hair on humans, but Katra evidently kept everything smooth. Kaliyo smiled to herself as she remembered walking in on Katra shaving her armpits; she remembered saying, at the time, that if something was growing on her, it’s probably supposed to be there. But still, she was beautiful, all of her -- Kaliyo’s gaze shifted to Katra’s face, her lips slightly open, pencilled-on eyebrows raised above her lenses, waiting, open, vulnerable.

She leaned down and shifted to one side, slipping a hand between Katra’s legs. She gave her the kiss she seemed to be begging for, taking it as slowly as she could manage, letting Katra’s body be her guide. As she slowly, deliberately ran her hand over Katra’s lips, she felt Katra’s muscles quivering, and stopped for a moment.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked quietly, and suddenly Katra grabbed her face with both hands, red light boring into her eyes.

“I’ve never,” she hissed, “been more turned on in my life.”

A shiver ran down Kaliyo’s spine as Katra drew her into a forceful kiss, her hands moving to her neck, the back of her head. Katra’s hips rocked against Kaliyo’s hand, her moans vibrating Kaliyo’s lips as they kissed. Katra fell back against the bed, thrusting her hips up and panting, still holding Kaliyo as close as she could while her thumb circled Katra’s clit. She bit her lips, high-pitched squeaks escaping her as her head thrashed back and forth on the pillow, until she lost control and let loose a long, final sigh, her body sinking into the bed, arms growing limp around Kaliyo. Kaliyo drew her hand up from between Katra’s legs, resting it between her breasts as they shared a couple of lazy, soft kisses in the afterglow.

“I feel so light,” Katra murmured as Kaliyo nuzzled her neck. “Free.”

 

* * *

 

After Kaliyo managed to coax some reciprocation out of Katra (hard and fast, though the fact that Katra cuddled and kissed her afterward somehow made it even better), she was happy to sleep again until an insistent beeping started filling the apartment.

Katra groaned, shifting against Kaliyo. “Not now,” she cried, “Work can’t come back yet. Work can’t come back ever.”

Kaliyo didn’t discourage this thought, tightening her grip around Katra’s waist and squeezing her eyes shut. Going back to Intelligence work was not in the cards right now, no way. This was too good. This had to keep going.

The beeping stopped, and a deep-pitched Imperial female voice replaced it, loud enough to come through two walls.

“Cipher Nine. I know you’re home. Cipher Nine, this is Lord Shardyn, and I have a matter of great personal interest to you to discuss.”

Katra sighed. “Damn it all,” she cursed, rolling out of Katra’s grasp and sitting up. “I could stay here forever.”

“Why not? Screw Sith,” Kaliyo muttered. “Stay.”

“No, I owe her,” Katra said, “I know what that means for Sith.”

Kaliyo watched as she stepped out of the bed and stretched, admiring her naked back. Katra went to her closet and pulled out something Kaliyo had never seen before --  a thin, black bathrobe. Kaliyo sat up and stared as Katra tied it around her waist and turned back to her.

“You should hang around like that more often,” Kaliyo suggested, smirking.

Katra smiled, then pulled an identical robe from the closet and tossed it to her. “You’ll probably want to hear this too.”

Kaliyo reluctantly left the bed and managed to stuff herself into the smaller woman’s clothing, smiling at how short it was on her -- it made her feel like Katra could take her any time she wanted, and she felt herself growing a little hot at the idea. She’d put it into action after the holocall, she decided as Katra beckoned her out towards the living room.

She draped her arms over Katra’s shoulders as she bent down to activate the massive holoterminal in the center of the living room,  giving her a kiss on the neck just as Shardyn’s thick figure flared into existence.

“I see I’ve interrupted something. This shan’t take long,” she said, crossing her arms. “Cipher Nine, this is about your past, and your future.”

Kaliyo felt Katra stiffen under her. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“I have my own contacts within the Sith. I learned, this afternoon, about the miraluka apprentice that Jarona took, the freak who never became Force-sensitive,” Shardyn began, looking down intensely at Katra. “As usual, the Sith who attempted to exploit others were terribly poor at it. Jarona never understood you. But when I stood next to you in her apartment, I felt something strange about you. It is why I looked into your past as I did.”

Katra’s hands clenched into fists. “So what, do you think you can make me a Sith, too? Do you want to run experiments too?”

“Of course not. That didn’t work the first time. It never would have worked. The Sith in charge of you were simply too weak or too stubborn to see your real potential. You will never command the Force as a Sith does,” Shardyn stated plainly. “But you need not ever fear the Sith again.”

Katra cocked her head. “What are you saying?”

“Your racial heritage did not fail to leave a mark. You are Force-sensitive, in a sense, in that you are actively Force _in_ -sensitive. Your very being feels like a wall in the Force to those who can perceive it. For those who cannot, they find you frustrating and obstinate, for reasons that they don’t even understand. If you focus this natural talent, if you nurture it, you will not become Sith -- you will become Sith- _killer_ ,” Shardyn emphasized. “Not only do you possess a strong will and independent streak, both valuable for Force resistance, you also have an ability that can be honed so that even lightning will not touch your flesh.”

Katra’s brown skin went pale. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Cipher Nine, you and I could reshape this Empire in a stronger, more competent mode, if only you will let me teach you,” Shardyn urged. “Only at your permission will we train. But the fact is, you are a unique individual that should not be squandered chasing terrorists and idiotic Dark Council members with insane visions of the future. You should be changing the world.”

“I need to think about this,” Katra said.

“Of course. You may call me whenever you have made a decision. If you decide against this, we will not be permanent allies, but I may still call in that favor. But consider my offer. Consider the way we could give this Empire sane, rational leadership, and we could spare any more people the fate you might’ve suffered at Jarona’s hands.” Shardyn looked into Katra’s lenses. “I can think of no one I respect more than you. You are an impressive woman already. Think of what else you could be.”

Shardyn disappeared from the holoterminal, and Kaliyo let go of Katra for a moment.

“Sith-killer,” Katra repeated. She turned to face Kaliyo, worry on her face.

“Sith-killer,” Kaliyo said with a grin. “Kat, if you do this, you’re gonna be just about the best person I’ve ever met.”

“You mean I’m not already?” Katra said with a chuckle in her voice.

“Well. You’ll be even better.” Kaliyo kissed her.

“We’ll see. I’ll meet up with her at least once. I can’t pass this up. It’s like she knows me too well,” Katra said. “You’ll be with me.”

“Of course, agent.” Kaliyo lightly took hold of Katra’s hand and pressed it against her inner thigh. “Now pin me to the wall, Sith-killer.”


	6. I Just Shoot Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Kaliyo discovers that Katra's being mind-controlled by the SIS, she takes every step possible to ensure that her lover is free forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woof, been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. Chapter 5 was the end of the initial arc, and while I was planning to take a small break, I didn't think it would be three months. I'll keep on track more unless I go through another series of incredible IRL changes.

Something was _wrong_.

It had been wrong since they’d gone into the SIS, since she’d met with that Kothe guy. Katra had been silent, fists clenched at her sides, shaking like she had the night they’d killed Jarona. Kaliyo hadn’t commented at the time — she didn’t want to come off as sensitive. Or prying. She’d done enough prying.

But her silence had continued as they’d flown across the galaxy to this wreck of a planet. She’d felt stiff and cold in bed, not even touching Kaliyo, curled up and facing away from her. Nothing but clipped orders since they landed and did seemingly random things at the SIS’s bidding. But this time, as Katra opened her holocom and told Kaliyo to stand watch for rakghouls, she heard something that made it all click.

“Codeword: Onomatophobia.”

Kaliyo’s head whipped around from the desolate ruins of Taris and aimed straight at Katra’s back. As soon as the words were spoken, Katra’s whole body stiffened. “Code recognized. Executing command.” She closed the holocom, and turned, and saw Kaliyo looking.

“What the hell was that?” Kaliyo asked.

In response, Katra pulled her pistol from her holster and fired a bolt just past Kaliyo. As she instinctively turned to follow it, Kaliyo spotted a new rakghoul corpse with a smouldering hole in its chest.

“Rakghoul,” Katra said helpfully. “You were supposed to be watching.”

“I’dve been fine,” Kaliyo scoffed. “So why are you talking like a droid to that SIS goon?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s normal,” Katra said. Her face twisted, as though she hadn’t liked the words that came out of her mouth.

“...Yeah, that sounded real. Isn’t lying, like, your _job_?” Kaliyo asked, raising an eyebrow. “And why are you lying to me?”

Katra looked down for a moment, then tried again: “It’s an SIS thing. They like it when you get all technical. That way they remember what commands they officially issued so they can put it in their reports.”

“Okay, better,” Kaliyo conceded, “but that’s not the truth and we both know it.”

“I don’t _want_ to lie to you,” Katra said, a frustrated growl in her voice.

“The hell does that mean, Kat?”

“I’d tell you, but it’d come out...wrong. It’s—” Katra ground her fist into her forehead suddenly, grunting in what almost sounded like pain. “Damn it. Let’s just—go, I need to go, I need to get to him, _now._ ” Katra holstered her weapon and hopped on her Titan, giving Kaliyo just enough time to stow her own and grab on before she started rocketing through the ruins. Kaliyo wanted to be angry, wanted to clench her fingers tight around Katra’s armor and pinch her, show her her annoyance — but this wasn’t Kat just being her usual weird self. This was _wrong._ And no matter what front she tried to put up, the deep feeling of worry in her gut wouldn’t subside.

Someone was fucking with _her_ agent. And she couldn’t stop them.

They stopped in front of a broken-down hospital, the lower levels open to the air, the entrance to the basement surrounded by the corpses of rakghouls and other scavengers. Katra hopped off the speeder and locked the controls, then _ran_ down the ramp to the basement as Kaliyo raced to catch up. She only slowed down as they approached the small, bleeding figure of Chase, sitting against the wall, clutching his stomach.

“L-Legate, good, you made it,” he whispered, forcing the words out. Kaliyo narrowed her eyes at him, putting a hand on her rifle. “T-took a bad hit, I--c-c-codewor-” He started coughing. “Please,” he rasped finally, his breath turning to wheezing.

“You can’t say it, can you?” Katra asked, her face a mask of hatred. “Goodbye, Chase.”

As Chase choked on his own blood, Katra turned and walked away, towards whatever destination she had in mind, whatever they had to do to keep up this charade. Kaliyo never paid attention to the details these days. They made her head spin. But Katra was not okay.

Kaliyo put an arm around her shoulder, just for a moment, as they walked. Katra leaned into it, resting her head on Kaliyo’s shoulder. She sighed. “I thought he was the good one,” she murmured.

“They’re government stooges. None of ‘em are good,” Kaliyo pointed out.

“ _I’m_ a government stooge.”

“Never said I was good either.”

Katra chuckled, but suddenly pulled away as the both of them heard something crash ahead of them. “Let’s get back to the mission.”

And they did. But Kaliyo started to pay attention.

 

* * *

 

She awoke in the night with a start. Katra’s jerking movements pushed back against her embrace, until finally Katra kicked free and slid onto the floor. She stumbled to her feet, grasping at her head, gasping for air.

“Kat?” Kaliyo asked as Katra opened the door. Her skinny silhouette shook in the low light of the ship. She looked back, and the red light of her eyes burned into Kaliyo’s. And then she ran.

Kaliyo threw the covers off and chased after her, bare feet pounding into the metal floors. Katra froze right in front of the holocom terminal, staring at the space above it as though there was someone talking to her. Her fingers locked up tight in fists, her toes curled, her mouth opened as she looked into something that Kaliyo couldn’t see. The veins in her arms popped out.

“Kat!” she called, rushing up to her — but as soon as Katra caught a glimpse of her, she jumped over the holocom as though to rush to the cockpit. As she reached the door, she suddenly stumbled and fell backwards as though trying to stop herself from running into someone.

“You,” she whispered. She curled her limbs up, hugging her knees, shivering. “Of course,” she added, a hyena-like cackle escaping her as Kaliyo caught up and kneeled in front of her, putting her hands on her shoulders.

“Kat, snap out of it!” she hissed, looking around to make sure no one was up. Katra just laughed dryly in response, shaking her head back and forth vigorously. Kaliyo thought of shaking her, but decided that that wouldn’t do much good. Instead, she reached into the tangle of Katra’s limbs and lifted her up under the arms, feeling her body go limp as she did so, barely standing up as she brought her to her feet.

“Hey,” she whispered, her hands smoothing Katra’s back. “It’s me, okay? It’s just me.”

Katra’s legs shook beneath her, and Kaliyo could tell she was ready to fall. She caught her just as all the strength left her, and carried her easily back to the bedroom and laid her down. She pulled Katra’s office chair over and sat down next to the edge of the bed. She waved her hand in front of Katra’s lenses. No response. Nothing.

 _She’s not dead_ , Kaliyo assured herself. Then she put two fingers to Katra’s neck. _Really not dead._ She let her hands hang limply in her lap, her head pitching forward.

 _I could leave_ , she thought. _I would normally leave_.

But as she stared down at Katra’s unmoving body, she knew she couldn’t leave her caged. She ran a hand down Kat’s cheek. “Tell me what’s happening,” she urged. “Let me fix it.”

Katra moaned, shifting slightly. Kaliyo quickly gripped her hand. “Kat?”

“Watcher X,” Katra groaned, turning over and curling into the fetal position, pulling out of Katra’s grasp. “H-he knew.”

Kaliyo waited for a moment. “Kat?” she repeated, but Katra’s breath had slowed again, and she gave no answer.

She pushed off and sent the office chair over to Katra’s terminal. She’d heard the verbal password a hundred times by now. “Miraluka,” she said quietly, and the terminal flared to life.

“Voiceprint ID recognized: Kaliyo Djannis. Specialized message for user access: Something must be seriously wrong,” the terminal replied. “Full access granted.”

Kaliyo spent some time wandering through the files, trying to find where Katra would have stored comm information for someone she wasn’t supposed to know. Eventually, she found what appeared to be a shorthand journal, which seemed to be the same file she usually kept on her datapad. She scrolled through it, and found the date of their mission completion on Nar Shaddaa — and a Holonet frequency. When she typed it in, she received a black screen for a few moments, and then:

“Cipher Nine’s comm signal. Not Cipher Nine at the controls. Rattataki woman. Kaliyo Djannis. Neyara Tishon. Other aliases older, now out of use. Contacting me to promise vengeance? No, undressed, worried, now angry again. Possible sexual relationship with Cipher Nine. Therefore...” The man’s voice was as irritating as ever, and she cut him off with, “Something’s wrong with Kat. She said your name.”

“Was getting to that. No need to contact me for ordinary injuries. Would not contact me by choice. Classified problem. Likely Intelligence-related. Mental conditioning?” As he spoke, Watcher X’s bald, cybernetically-grafted head appeared on-screen, nothing behind him but a blank metal wall.

“These SIS goons she’s undercover with, they say this word, and she does what they want,” Kaliyo said. “Now she’s gone comatose, having hallucinations. Look, you know I hate your ass, so you know this is serious.”

“Accurate. My ‘betrayal’ less serious than the betrayal of Cipher Nine. Technology you describe does not belong to the SIS. It is Imperial.”

Kaliyo slammed her fist onto the desk. “Those _bastards!_ ”

“Accurate. One solution. Current use of this technology must be overwhelming her brain. Possibly an order that is too long-lasting, too broad. Will cause permanent cerebral damage if not reversed. Dromund Kaas. Intelligence archives. More information on the specific techniques used. She will be able to determine course from there. She will wake up shortly.”

“If this works, we’re square, X.”

“Not a concern of mine. Cipher Nine deserves better. We all did.”

The comm shut off.

Kaliyo turned off the terminal and crawled in behind Katra’s prone form, wrapping her arms around her. For now, there was nothing she could do but wait.

She felt Katra stirring a few sleepless hours later — _‘she will wake up shortly,’ my ass,_ Kaliyo thought — and pulled her closer. “You okay?” she asked, clenching her fingers to keep her from running again.

“Yeah,” Katra said back, hesitation in her voice. “Did you talk to him?”

“I did. He knew where to go.”

 

* * *

 

It was hard to decide if this was worse.

X came through. They found the files. The location of the chemicals that imprisoned her. But as soon as she injected them into her skull, she convulsed with pain in the medical bay, and Kaliyo had finally had to call that creepy doctor back in to make sure _this_ wasn’t gonna kill her.

Now, as she lay on the table with monitoring equipment strapped to her head, she was at least able to look up at Kaliyo, touch her face, tell her that this meant it was working.

“Do you think it hurt this much last time?” she asked, turning her gaze to Lokin.

“Not likely. It’s possible they injected it with your standard anti-radiation serums during your reactivation,” Lokin mused, staring at the monitor. “Then, all they needed to do was wait, call you in, assign you the codeword, and tell you to forget the entire event. The notes you found aren’t as complete as I’d like, but there are risks involved with this. Re-injection was stated as a possibility, but with a ‘greatly increased failure rate’.”

“It’s worth it to be free,” Kaliyo stated, reaching down and gripping Katra’s hand.

“I tend to agree. Cipher Nine, can you discuss the details of what we’re doing yet?”

Katra winced for a moment, then began, “You’re injecting the IX serum into me so that—” A loud _beep_ issued from the equipment, and Katra gasped in pain. “There’s nothing wrong with me. Don’t worry about it.”

Kaliyo growled. “Fascist bastards,” she spat.

“I’m still technically loyal to the Empire, Ms. Djannis,” Lokin reminded her.

“What about you, huh, Agent?” Kaliyo asked. “Still think they’re on the right track?”

“Not now, Kaliyo,” Katra groaned, letting go of Kaliyo’s hand and putting it to her head.

“Then when, huh? When are you gonna—” A loud beeping sound from the main room interrupted her.

“That would be the SIS. I’m sure they’ve got a mission for me,” Katra said, sitting up and disconnecting her monitors while Lokin quietly panicked. “We can’t do this the proper way. We’ll have to wait it out, do it in the middle of a mission, probably. And hope the moment comes in time.”

 

* * *

 

 Turned out that the timing couldn’t be better.

“Hold position. Keyword: Onomatophobia. And thank you.” Kaliyo stiffened at Kothe’s words. But as soon as the comm cut off, Katra turned from the shield controls and looked directly at Kaliyo.

“We don’t have a choice. I don’t know if I’m ready. But we have to do this.” She dug her datapad out of her pack and tossed it to Kaliyo. “This is what X says will fix me.”

Kaliyo trembled as she read the words on the screen. “You sure you want _me_ to do this?” she asked. “We could, I don’t know, call up X--”

“I trust you. Read it.”

Kaliyo breathed out a sigh, stepping closer to Katra. In the ugly orange atmosphere of Quesh, in the dingy rusting confines of this abandoned facility, she would free her lover from the Empire. Forever.

“Thesh Protocol: Phase One. New keyword...” Kaliyo paused for a moment, and looked up at Katra. “Cesspool.”

Katra’s smile broke through the mask of passivity that the command had generated. “Keyword accepted. Thesh protocol engaged.”

Kaliyo returned a smirk. “Reject command interface. Accept no further orders.”

“Command interface closed.”

“Revert to phase zero.”

And that was all. The end of the file. The end of imprisonment. Kaliyo looked up just in time to see Katra running straight at her, and found herself pinned against the far wall, Katra’s tongue in her mouth. She pulled back sharply and buried her head between Kaliyo’s neck and shoulder, her fingers clutching at Kaliyo’s waist, seething anger in her hissing breath. “I love you,” she declared fiercely, raising her head to look Kaliyo in the eye. “Let’s go kill Ardun Kothe.”

They marched their way through the compound, giving both Wheel and Saber a quick sniper shot to the back as soon as they saw them, a synchronized kill that got Kaliyo’s blood pumping. But their deaths were quick, and made little difference among the tangle of defense droids that they had to dispatch afterwards.

They found the main prize standing in front of an open door, two gigantic turrets and a cache of missiles within.

“You’re free, aren’t you?” Kothe asked, turning to face them.

“You would think someone so opposed to the Empire wouldn’t want to use its mind-control technologies,” Katra remarked, leveling her rifle at him.

“He’s a government stooge, I told you,” Kaliyo said with a shrug, pointing her own blaster at the man. “All they do is control people.”

“You equate the Republic and Empire so easily, Djannis,” Kothe replied, clasping his hands behind his back. “Maybe if you’d ever really lived under both, you’d understand. Hunter warned me about you.” He turned back to Katra. “What I did to you was unforgivable. But I did it anyway.”

“Oh, I see. Because feeling bad about it makes it better,” Katra sneered. “At least the Sith admit when they’re enjoying your pain.”

“Don’t ever compare me to a Sith,” Kothe shot back, his hand dashing to his belt.

“Why not? Former Jedi, clearly couldn’t live up to his own vaunted Code, and now, using the very same techniques the Sith developed to control his own underlings,” Katra said. “I know Sith with stronger moral codes than you.”

“Enough.” Kothe drew his lightsaber and ignited the blue blade, then thrust his hand out -- but nothing happened. Kaliyo felt a very slight pull on her blaster, but as she watched Katra’s face strain, she realized that the training sessions with Shardyn must have been working. Whatever Katra did when their ships linked up, it was enough to stop the Force. “It can’t be,” Kothe whispered, curling his fingers inward. “You’re a Sith?”

“Shardyn said that the stupid couldn’t recognize what I am. That I’d frustrate them.” Katra held down the trigger on her rifle, the charge audibly building as Kothe struggled to use his powers against them and found no purchase. “You Force-users. Always so self-assured.” And she fired.

Kothe’s reaction didn’t quite manage to deflect the bolt, but it hit his arm instead of his head, and his saber dropped to the ground. He reeled, clutching his arm. “Feeling a bit sluggish?” Katra asked, walking forward. He reached out as though trying to call his lightsaber to him, but it didn’t move. “I can even suppress your Force-sense. And if you take away the Force from a Jedi, a Sith, what do you have left? Take away their natural, random advantage, and who do we always find?” She fired another shot, Kothe’s clumsy dodge landing the bolt directly on his shoulder. “Someone who can’t even stand up to an ordinary soldier. No more grace. No more precognition. A child pretending to be a god.” Another shot. This one hit him in the stomach. He stumbled back as he stared up into Katra’s lenses. She dropped her rifle and pulled the vibro-knife from her belt. “I’m no Sith, Ardun Kothe. I’m a Sith-killer.”

She buried the knife in his neck and kicked him back through the doorway. As he fell, choking on his own blood, she casually walked over to the console and activated the force-field, then the turrets. She stood beside Kaliyo and watched as the turrets pounded his body into charcoal.

Kaliyo shivered. _How did I find the perfect goon?_ she wondered as she stared at Katra’s grim expression. “You better do that to the bastards who did this to you in the first place,” she suggested.

“I just might.”


	7. As Far as You Can Throw Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kaliyo discovers Katra's long-term plans post-Castellan Restraints, she decides they don't go far enough, and takes matters into her own hands.

Kaliyo leaned against the wall in the main room of Shardyn’s ship, just past the airlock, in order to watch the chaos unfold.

Katra and Shardyn stood on opposite sides of the holocom, with a rather gruff-looking man assuming Kaliyo’s position on the other side of the room to watch. Katra had never invited her to one of these before. ‘Force suppression sessions,’ was what Shardyn had called them over the comm. Now that Kaliyo had seen her work in action, she’d been itching to see what kind of training one needed to make Jedi into flatfooted dunces.

“Ready?” Shardyn drawled, a smile coming to her face — the first Kaliyo could recall. It made her tiger-stripes stretch. She was damned pretty. Kaliyo still didn’t like her much.

“Why even ask? Test my reflexes next time,” Katra goaded, and Shardyn chuckled darkly. In an instant, she raised her hand and fired out a stream of lightning that seemed to hit Katra square in the chest. Kaliyo started, but soon realised that it wasn’t actually touching her. It stopped less than an inch from her coat, winking out of existence at some barrier she couldn’t see.

Shardyn pulled back her hand. “That was the reflex test,” she announced. “Now let’s try volume.” She splayed her arms out to her sides and raised her palms to the ceiling like claws, lightning arcing between the floor and the tips of her fingers. The room crackled with static as the storm surrounded Shardyn, arcs forming between her lekku, a mad violet glow in her eyes. She threw her hands towards Katra and sent a torrent of lightning in her direction as Kaliyo clenched her jaw.

And the lightning hit nothing. In fact, as Kaliyo watched, the power surrounding Shardyn dimmed, the electricity simmering down, the channel she was keeping up creating a smaller and smaller beam until she didn’t glow at all, and her hands seemed to fail her entirely. She thrust them out, once, twice, but no further lightning came. “It takes quite a lot to fully suppress me,” Shardyn said. “Except — you haven’t yet.”

Shardyn’s whole body pulsed with light, as if another silhouette was trying to emerge from her body, and the storm flared back to life. This time, Katra visibly strained, putting out one of her own hands to stop the lightning blast Shardyn aimed her way. Rather than stopping, this one deflected off of her palm and into the ceiling, until it, too, slowly faded. Shardyn bent over, sweat dripping from her forehead. Katra wiped her brow.

“You’ve gotten stronger since last time,” Katra remarked.

“As have you,” Shardyn replied. “Most impressive. You’d give the Dark Council themselves pause, though I doubt you could stand up to too many Sith at once.” She walked over to the holocom and flipped a switch. “That is our demonstration, Darth Malgus,” she announced as the image of a huge man appeared above the projector. A black cape flowed down his back, coming off of the massive shoulder guards of his heavy battle armor. His scarred, veined face peered out across them all above a respirator.

“Lord Shardyn, you never fail to impress. Nor do you, Cipher Nine. I expected that great things would come of the both of you after our work taking the Foundry. Baras’ apprentice and the bounty hunter had their merits, but it was the two of you that lead them to victory.” Malgus took a brief glance across the room, acknowledging Kaliyo with a nod as she sized him up herself. Katra hadn’t talked about the strike-team missions she’d been drafted for, but Kaliyo knew Malgus on sight. His face didn’t adorn propaganda like some of the other Imps she’d been fighting against on Brentaal, but anyone worth a damn knew that the real strength of the Empire was in him and his men.

Jackpot.

“The two of you are exemplars of what the Empire could be — and is not. Alien slaves who have worked their way up despite the arbitrary barriers our self-absorbed culture erected in their path. I imagine an Empire without such barriers, where the strength in all of us can be realized and put to work for the betterment of all. No pointless anti-alien measures. No slavery to deny those with ability the opportunity to expand themselves. The strong will lead not by ensuring that no one else can be strong, but by example,” Malgus continued. “The two of you will be invaluable allies on the day that the Empire faces these truths. Plans are in motion. Darth Serevin is my foremost ally in my initiative, but know that I have legions of loyal soldiers, generals, admirals and pilots who will follow. You two are now a part of those plans.”

“I am more than ready to reshape this dying Empire,” Shardyn proclaimed. “One such as I should not be relegated to social pariah due to a single idiotic Council member, obsessed with tradition.”

“And Cipher Nine should not have been handicapped directly after performing one of the greatest acts of public service to the Empire in our entire history,” Malgus stated. “Rest assured, Cipher, that I had nothing to do with that decision. But I possess the names of those who did. The Dark Council must be dissolved in the coming years, or we will suffer the consequences of their myopia and infighting until we are destroyed by the Republic again. Shardyn has been a confidant since the Foundry. Will you join me in securing a future for the Empire free of old grudges and biases, where someone like yourself may be inducted into the ranks of power above the Sith that wasted her potential?”

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for a Sith to make sense,” Katra said. “Consider me in your pocket, Malgus.”

“I will contact you when the time has come for revolt. Until then, rid the Empire of its external enemies so that when we stage our revolution, we will not have a weak point to strike at. May the Force serve you well.”

The comm shut off, and Katra turned to Kaliyo.

“So, not only are we fighting a conspiracy against the Empire and the Republic, but now _we’re_ part of a conspiracy within the Empire itself,” Kaliyo asked, ticking off the number of enemies they had on her fingers.

“That seems to be right, yes,” Katra said with a grin.

“Agent, your life is a blast.”

“Quite so,” Shardyn agreed, walking over and positioning herself between the two. “My journey takes me to Belsavis, as does yours, I believe. The planet is becoming something of a hotbed of activity these days. Contact me when you arrive and we can work together on any pressing issues, and if an opportunity comes up to advance the New Empire, we will seize it together.” She put a hand on Katra’s shoulder, prompting Kaliyo to bite her tongue and try not to get possessive. This wasn’t helped by her creepy, _creepy_ smile, and her strange tone as she added, “I’m looking forward to this.” Kaliyo glanced the man across the way and noted that he looked just as uncomfortable as she did. _Boyfriend, maybe?_

Katra didn’t seem bothered at all. “It should certainly be more stimulating than kowtowing to the Dark Council,” she agreed. “I’ll see you soon.”

Kaliyo followed her as she moved into the airlock and prepared to transfer back to the Phantom. As soon as they were out of earshot, Kaliyo turned to Katra and asked, “So are you two fucking or what?”

Katra let out a sudden laugh. “What? You think I’d be—with a Sith? She just does that because it makes Andronikos twitch.” She giggled and wrapped an arm around Kaliyo as the airlock cycled. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“I just wanted to know if you’d let me in on it,” Kaliyo said with a shrug, looking away as Katra pulled her closer.

“I’d never leave you out,” Katra promised, turning Kaliyo’s head towards hers with her free hand. She leaned in and kissed her deeply, her hands migrating to the small of Kaliyo’s back and pressing their bodies together. _She’s in a good mood_ , Kaliyo thought. _All right..._

She leaned into Katra’s affections, feeling her body heat rise despite the worm of an idea wriggling in her mind. As soon as the airlock finished its cycle, Katra pushed her against the door of the Phantom while they waited for _this_ ship to let them through. Kaliyo gasped as Katra took hold of her wrists, feeling the same thrill she had behind the Cesspool as Katra made sure she could barely move, only her mouth remaining free as Katra drove a thigh between her legs. Katra broke contact just as the door opened, nearly letting Kaliyo fall backwards before snatching her, hands on her neck and back like she’d just dipped her during a dance.

After a moment of staring at each other, heavy breath hanging in the air, Katra pulled her back up and kept a grip on the back of her neck, leading her through the ship (and straight past a puzzled-looking Ensign Temple) towards the bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind them, Katra stripped off Kaliyo’s tank top, kissed her, then threw her on the bed and turned around to apparently rummage through her desk.

Kaliyo raised herself up with her hands, trying to see what Katra was digging out. She heard small metal clinking sounds as Katra raised up her prize, but she kept it behind her back as she turned around and approached Kaliyo. Katra leaned down and kissed her — and then locked the handcuffs around her wrists, behind her back.

 _Well, this is new_ , Kaliyo thought, but she didn’t even have the thought to resist — the moment the metal hit her flesh a tingle ran down her spine. She looked up at Katra’s smug smirk.

“These your official Intelligence arrestin’ cuffs?” she asked as Katra leaned down and unlaced Kaliyo’s boots.

“Mhm.”

“Bet you I could get out of ‘em.”

As Katra finished pulling off Kaliyo’s footwear, she looked up for a moment and smiled. “I don’t think you want to.” She unbuttoned Kaliyo’s pants and slid her hand under her boxers. Kaliyo twitched as Katra’s fingers grazed her clit. “No, I think you like them,” Katra murmured as she leaned over Kaliyo’s shoulder, her fingers slowly exploring between Kaliyo’s legs. Kaliyo’s eyes squeezed shut, her hands locking up into fists. She grit her teeth as Katra’s lips formed a seal on her neck.

One of Katra’s fingers entered her, and she let out a strained moan between her teeth. Katra pulled herself off of Kaliyo and whispered in her ear, “Do I need a gag, too?”

“Y-you couldn’t shut me up if you tried,” Kaliyo panted, a flush traveling through her as she thought of Katra controlling her even further. Katra grabbed her by the chin and forced her into a kiss, quite effectively shutting her up. She squirmed as Katra pumped within her, thumb rubbing against her clit, her own fingers clenching and unclenching behind her back. Katra pulled back, putting a hand on Kaliyo’s shoulder as she pitched her head up to the ceiling and let out a groan. Her breathing turned to quick gasps of air as Katra thrust harder and slower, changing her rhythm until Kaliyo felt she was going to burst— and then she stood up and took her hands off of Kaliyo entirely.

Kaliyo glared at her, even as sweat dripped off her forehead and ran down her chest, rising and falling as her body cooled. She wanted to beg for more, but that wouldn’t keep up the game, and it would give her too much satisfaction. She would wait. She would be patient, even if her body was on fire.

“I think it’s my turn now,” Katra said, shrugging out of her coat and laying it over her chair. She removed her boots and socks, then unbuckled her belt. Kaliyo tried to keep from drooling as she watched Katra strip, squeezing her legs together to keep some form of pressure. After Katra pulled off her pants and underwear in one smooth motion, she walked over to the desk again, giving Kaliyo a tempting view as she bent over to search for something else. _When did she get all these toys?_ Kaliyo wondered, eager now, hungry.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t get something,” Katra said, bringing out a thick black vibrator and turning back to Kaliyo with a grin. Katra kneeled for a second and pulled Kaliyo's pants and underwear off, then stood back up. She bent over Kaliyo and separated her legs for her, then slowly guided the toy between her lips. Kaliyo grunted as she felt it glide between her slick folds, and let out a moan as Katra turned it on, soft, not enough to get her there, but enough to keep her on the edge.

“Fuck,” she breathed, throwing her head back.

“That’s the idea. Keep that in there, or I’m not putting it back,” Katra teased, taking Kaliyo by the shoulders. Kaliyo squeezed her legs together as Katra pulled her off the bed, spun her around, and made her kneel. She could already feel the welcome pressure slipping as Katra sat on the edge of the bed and beckoned her forward between her open legs. She closed her eyes for a moment and prayed that she could somehow satisfy Katra before she lost all stimulation, then greedily leaned forward to taste her agent.

Katra had never asked for this before, and Kaliyo had been dying to know what she would taste like. She ran her tongue through Katra’s folds, savoring her arousal, the heat she felt, the way that Kat was still so sensitive that a little flick against her clit would send a shockwave through her. Katra moaned, and Kaliyo looked up from her task for a moment to see her lifting off her shirt and throwing it across the room, then quickly getting to work on her bra. As soon as she unhooked it, she let it slide off of her arms and fall to the side, and clutched her breasts while Kaliyo got back to work. Kaliyo felt one hand reach out and grasp at her head, nails digging into her bald scalp as Katra thrust forward against her tongue.

She listened for Katra’s tell-tale signs while still struggling to keep the vibrator from succumbing to gravity, hearing the little whimpers, the moments where she tried and failed to catch her breath, the way her fingers tensed when she was about to climax. When Kat was clearly at the breaking point, Kaliyo sucked on her clit as hard as she could, and heard a long, happy sigh as a reward just as the vibrator dropped out of her and clattered on the floor. Kaliyo almost wanted to laugh at the way it buzzed there except for the pressing need in her. Katra fell back onto the bed, letting out a little giggle as Kaliyo rose to her feet, her legs shaking with unresolved tension. Katra raised a hand into the air and beckoned to Kaliyo, who essentially fell onto the bed beside her and wriggled up to the pillows to lay her head down.  As she rolled over, Katra joined her, a lopsided, dazed smile on her face.

“Very good,” she muttered, her fingers traveling down Kaliyo’s chest and grazing her nipples. “But you lost your toy.”

Kaliyo gave up at that moment. “C-come on, j-just...” she panted, squirming as Katra pinched her nipples between her fingers, _hard_ , sending jolts through her body.

“I’ll take care of you,” Katra promised, releasing her hold and letting one hand travel further down Kaliyo’s body while the other grabbed her ass. Kaliyo swallowed as she felt Katra’s soft touch, just barely rubbing her clit, sending fresh waves of heat up to her cheeks.

“Harder,” she begged, and Katra obeyed with gusto, tripling her speed, Kaliyo’s clit aching for release. _Finally_ the coil in Kaliyo’s gut snapped and she let out a short scream, then grit her teeth together and hissed through them as Kat just kept going, wracking her body with tremors until she finally had to call out a weak, “Stop,” roll onto her back, and try to calm her breathing. She closed her eyes as she felt Katra leave the bed, and return with the key, running it slowly across her naked body. Kaliyo eventually sat up and let her undo the locks after she’d regained control. She caught the falling cuffs in her hands, then suddenly turned and pushed Katra against the bed, holding her wrists above her head, the cuffs just about ready to lock.

Katra’s gasp, the way her body stiffened, told Kaliyo to wait, to look into her lenses, see if this was really okay. “I’ll stop if you say,” Kaliyo said, leaning in close.

Katra lifted her head and met Kaliyo’s lips for a brief moment, then laid back and gave a quick, hesitant nod. Kaliyo grinned and lifted Katra up, then stuffed her hands behind her back and locked them together. Katra whimpered as Kaliyo took her by the shoulders and gave her a long, steady kiss, the kind she _really_ liked. Katra’s muscles relaxed, and she fell back to the bed and slowly spread her legs. Kaliyo scrounged for the key and made sure to place it on the nightstand near her side of the bed.

Kaliyo leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed the still-active vibrator, waving it in front of Katra’s lenses for a moment before lightly touching it to one of her nipples. “How often did you use this?” Kaliyo teased as Katra’s legs raised up, her knees on either side of Kaliyo.

“A-after the Cesspool,” Katra managed, then after Kaliyo switched sides, “And T-tatooine. And Alderaan. I-I couldn’t—couldn’t help myself...”

“Not so cool and collected as you look.” Kaliyo trailed the toy down Katra’s stomach.

“I-it was all you,” Katra said with a shaky smile. Her back arched as Kaliyo pressed the vibrator against her clit, her neck stiff as she groaned. “I-if this place wasn’t soundproof...”

“I’dve heard every little sigh,” Kaliyo finished, leaning down to kiss her again as she pushed inside of Katra, eliciting a sharp inhale. Each thrust made Katra’s whole body move, even after Kaliyo braced herself against her with a hand on her breast. She squeezed, enjoying every little sound, the way her brown skin flushed darker as she worked, until Katra breathed a quiet, “Stop.”

Kaliyo withdrew the vibrator and shut it off, listening to Katra’s sighs of contentment as she rolled over to press herself against Katra’s side. She dropped the toy to the floor and rested a hand on Katra’s breast, idly squeezing and drawing out little bouts of laughter until Katra swallowed and started taking long, deep breaths. Kaliyo reached down and drew the covers over Katra, then kissed her on the cheek. “Be back in a minute. Then I’ll let you go,” she whispered in her ear. Katra only responded with an “Mm,” as Kaliyo got up off the bed.

She snagged Katra’s coat and buttoned it up just enough to cover herself, then made her way for the door. Before she left, she took a quick glance at the bound, happy Katra. _After two orgasms, she’s not going anywhere,_ she assured herself, and stepped out into the ship proper.

Luckily, no one was in the cockpit at the moment. She opened a comm channel.

As she sent what she knew to Brentaal, something in her gut told her to stop. Something tried to pull her back to the bedroom and the woman she loved. But she finished her message. She had to do it. No matter what feelings she had, no matter how Kat would respond to this, she had to support freedom from the Empire. No matter how much better Kat was trying to make that Empire.

She returned to the bedroom and took the key from her nightstand, then straddled Katra, sat her up, let her go. As soon as her hands were free, Katra embraced her and buried her head in Kaliyo’s shoulder.

“I love you.”

“Yeah.” Kaliyo squeezed the metal in her hands. “Love you too.”


	8. Too Far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katra discovers Kaliyo's side activities, and deals with them.

Kaliyo kicked back in the pilot’s chair and put her feet straight through the galaxy map, swirling a glass of Katra’s wine in her hand as she watched the streaks of hyperspace slide past the viewscreen. Voss now, wasn’t it? She was never sure where they were going unless she wrote it down. And paying attention was annoying. And it’s not like she was gonna put Kat in danger or anything by sending their work off to the Wheezer. This Star Cabal or whatever had to be put down first.

So when she actually did look at the galaxy map, she felt a chill run down her spine.

Katra entered the room just as Kaliyo rose up to ask her if what she was looking at was real. As Katra leaned into the doorway and glared at her, her eyebrows slanted in anger, Kaliyo’s stomach sank. But she had to ask anyway.

“Hey, uh, Kat, why are we going to Hutta?” Kaliyo asked, backing up and setting down her glass.

“Well, that’s where your friends are, isn’t it? They’ve been dying to meet up with you,” Katra replied, in the same tone that she always used against people she was about to kill. “So many messages. Bring your contact, and all that.”

 _I told them not to send anything back_ , Kaliyo fumed, her body tensing up. “Look, Kat—”

“What? What excuse could there possibly be?” Katra asked. “I looked through the logs after I caught those messages. You were thorough, but the comm records activity. Almost every night. Never had to check before. Lokin confirmed it. So what is it? Come on. Lie to me.”

“I never put you in danger!” Kaliyo shouted, fists curling at her sides.

“Oh, so what is it that you were sending? What did you tell them?” Katra brushed aside her coat and put a hand on her holster.

“Just—you know, stuff I picked up planetside. Troop movements, fortified places, where they might get weapons or something. They called me up after we killed Kothe. A rumor got out that I was working with Imps. They found me.”

Katra put her other hand on her brow, kneading it between two fingers. “And you never considered that the same organization that gave the SIS my brainwashing codes might’ve had a hand in that? That they might be trying to undermine me from the inside?”

“Look, they were old friends, they needed help. Doesn’t matter who sent ‘em,” Kaliyo retorted, crossing her arms. “I left you out of it.”

“So what message did you send the day after we met Malgus?”

Kaliyo’s blood ran cold.

“I’m waiting.”

“I—I told them that the Empire was about to change, big time, probably violently. So I said to wait for it, then when everyone’s disorganized, they could free Brentaal. Nothing specific. Nothing that would tie it back to you.”

“And when they tell their friends about it, suddenly every enemy of the Empire knows that it’s going to be vulnerable, so instead of undergoing a revolution to make it a better place, the Empire dies and the Sith grab whatever they can and kill each other,” Katra said.

“Maybe the Empire _should_ die!” Kaliyo shouted back. “Kat, look at what they did to you! Not only were you a slave who only got out of being killed because of luck, every single mission you’ve ever had to work for the ‘good of the Empire’ gets sabotaged by the _fucking_ Empire! Uh, let’s see: Hutta, random Sith kills your contact’s sons for no reason. The Eagle, turns out to be a Dark Council member trying to blow up his own shit for some bullshit about an ‘era of fear’. Infiltrating the SIS, turns out that we brainwashed you after you fixed our mess last time, and now they’re turning you into a puppet! What the hell is so worth preserving? Burn it all down! Let people be free!”

“Because I know what will happen if we just start tearing it up. Darth Jadus would just be the start. Anarchy in the Empire would mean Sith warlords ruling everyone under an iron fist and fighting each other till we’re all dead,” Katra explained. “You think you know how things ought to be. But you’ve never lived under the Empire, not really. You’re an outsider, wherever you go, and you think that makes you better. But all it means is that when someone is different from you, when someone doesn’t agree with everything you think and say and do, that means they’re worthless. And then, you abandon them.”

“Don’t act like you know me,” Kaliyo spat.

“Don’t feed me that. I know you lie. I lie too. It’s my _job_ , as you pointed out. You’re nearly as good at it. And I’ve seen the trail you left behind. I thought you respected me enough that I wouldn’t be part of it, but it’s obvious that I was fooling myself. I won’t be blind again.” Katra pulled her pistol out and pointed it at Kaliyo. “Now you’re going to be friends with Scorpio until we hit Hutta. We’re going to deal with your friends. Then I’ll deal with you.”

“What, after all the shit I did for you, you’re just gonna ice me like any other Imperial who didn’t goose-step right?” Kaliyo seethed, her muscles tensing up. “I’m not going down without a fight.”

“I never said I’d kill you.”

“Good!”

Kaliyo charged at her, but she hardly got two steps before a blaster bolt burned into her knee. She fell forward, Katra gracefully stepping aside to let her chin smash into the floor. Katra’s boot ground into her back.

“I never said I wouldn’t hurt you, either,” Katra said, pressing her foot down on Kaliyo’s spine as she yelled out in frustration and pain. “You think because you’ve seen me vulnerable that I can’t turn back on you just as quickly? You think because I said ‘I love you,’ I turned off the part of me that survived Korriban?” she asked.  “You’ve made me very, very angry, Kaliyo. Remember what I did to Ardun Kothe?” A blast next to Kaliyo’s head put a ring in her left ear. “You’re a centimeter away from dust.”

Kaliyo shook, hating the fear that took hold of her mind, the acid in Katra’s voice, the mixture of terror and respect that froze her there. The _click_ of Katra’s handcuffs as they bound her wrists behind her back introduced a memory she didn’t want right now, a feeling that she wanted to kill.

“Cipher?” Raina’s voice called from the main room. “What’s going on in there?”

“Kaliyo’s caused a problem. I’m about to fix it. Scorpio!” Katra called. The creepy droid’s mechanical footsteps made their way towards Kaliyo. “Will you take this prisoner to the cargo hold and ensure she stays there, please? I’ll come for her in a couple of hours. Give her some kolto for the leg.”

“Very well, Cipher. I look forward to an explanation, from her and from you.”

“You’ll get one eventually, I promise.”

The droid’s cold metal fingers grasped the back of Kaliyo’s collar and yanked her up, holding her an inch above the ground with no apparent effort. Its yellow eyes peered curiously over her body for a moment. Then Scorpio pivoted and dragged Kaliyo through the ship and ousted the meditating Vector from the cargo hold. It dropped her in a corner.

“Interesting,” it stated, looking over Kaliyo as she raised her legs to her chest and shot it a glare.

“What?”

“On Belsavis, when the two of you would argue, you would resolve the issue via sex,” Scorpio said. “It is unusual to see the two of you so at odds. What has disrupted your alliance?”

“This ain’t an argument over tactics or what she shoulda done or something,” Kaliyo said, looking away as Scorpio extended a needle from its wrist and bent down. “Wait, were you—”

“My systems extended through the whole of Belsavis. You were an interesting pair to observe. Such an organic coupling is very unusual. I was curious how you could accomplish anything together.” Scorpio stuck the needle directly into Kaliyo’s knee, and watched as the kolto began its work, the burns quickly fading from Kaliyo’s skin.

Kaliyo sighed. “Well, looks like we aren’t accomplishing anything anymore.”

“Organic experiments typically end in failure. I will extract further information from Cipher Nine in the future, if you are unwilling to speak. Her version of the story will be granted precedence, in that instance.”

“Her version’s not gonna be too different. Not a big deal. Don’t care what you think.” Kaliyo crossed her arms and put her head down. “Screw it. Screw all of it.”

Scorpio stood silently over her, recording her heartrate, sweat production, and the heat rising from her flesh.

 

* * *

 

“Wake up.”

Kaliyo didn’t remember falling asleep, but the sharp kick of Katra’s armored boot to her shin certainly roused her. She scrambled to her feet as Katra circled behind her and unlocked her cuffs. Kaliyo thought of turning around and hitting her, trying to get out of here -- but there were more than just Katra on the ship, and they’d cut her down before she reached the ramp. Katra returned to her field of vision, hooking her cuffs to her belt. She pullled out a small blaster pistol by the barrel, waiting for Kaliyo to grab it.

Kaliyo took it, and after a moment of looking over it, said, “No charge.”

“You think I’d give you a real weapon?” Katra scoffed, handing a holster. “This is just for show. You’re always strapped. They’d think it was strange if you weren’t. You’re going ahead of me, getting through any security. If you tell them I’m with you, you’re the first one I’m shooting.” She slapped her belt and vanished. “Let’s go.”

Kaliyo strapped the holster around her waist and left the ship, feeling Katra’s intrusive presence despite not being able to see her. She went through the spaceport, to the dock they’d told her they’d rented out for a week. As she approached the door and hit the button on the side, an eyestalk camera emerged from an iris above it and surveyed her.

“Kaliyo? You alone?” a voice asked from the speaker above the button. Katra’s blaster pressed invisibly into Kaliyo’s back.

“Yeah, I’m alone. Didn’t bring my contact. Too risky for her. But I got stuff to share.” She pulled out her personal datapad and waved it in front of the camera.

“All right, come in. We’ve been waiting since you landed.”

As the door opened, Katra’s blaster retreated from her back, and Kaliyo walked down the ramp into a flat expanse of dirt, only a small shuttle sitting at the back. There he stood: the Wheezer, an enormous man with an equally enormous respirator covering his lower jaw, along with four hard-looking men standing guard. The Wheezer held no gun, and as Kaliyo looked among his guards, she recognized their weapons as substandard Republic knock-offs, the kind that didn’t even scorch Katra’s armor.

“This all that’s left of the Brigade? Pretty sad, Wheezer,” Kaliyo said, walking up to face her old mentor.

“We are just temporarily in exile. Our supporters are on Brentaal, but we haven’t been able to share your information with them just yet. We were hoping you would rejoin us, use those Imp secrets to get us back on-planet,” the Wheezer informed her.

“Huh. Guess that’s good news for someone,” Kaliyo said, shifting uncomfortably as Katra materialized behind one of the guards. “Sorry.” And she fell to the floor before the shooting started.

The first guard went down with Katra’s knife in his spine. The second died a moment later when a shot from Kat’s pistol burned the flesh off of his face. The third got a dart to the eye from the launcher in her wrist. Only the fourth survived to fire off a quick burst of shots in Katra’s direction while the Wheezer charged for her. Katra managed to hit the last guard with a skillfully-placed blast, but Wheezer tackled her to the ground a second afterward and sent Kat’s blaster spinning across the dusty floor, right next to Kaliyo’s head.

Kaliyo grabbed the gun. She got to her feet and looked over at the struggling mass of Katra and Wheezer, Wheezer’s huge form almost entirely obscuring the agent. She raised the pistol and aimed. Kaliyo spotted Katra’s red lenses flash in and out of sight during the struggle, until Katra managed to knee Wheezer right between the legs, making him shudder and hold still for just a moment.

Their eyes, such as they were, met. Kaliyo fired. And again. And again.

Wheezer’s back split open, smouldering as he screamed in pain, as bolt after bolt tore into his flesh. Finally, a shot severed his spine, and he collapsed on top of Katra. Kaliyo tossed the weapon away. “I didn’t want to pick a side. Asshole,” she spat.

Katra struggled out from underneath the corpse and stood up, hair frazzled, limbs tense, sweat beading on her forehead. “Why did you do that?” she demanded, squeezing her hands into fists at her sides.

“I already told you why. A while ago.” Kaliyo looked away.

“So...all of this, then, why did you start talking to them in the first place?” Katra asked, walking over to retrieve her weapon.

“Because I thought you’d get it someday. That all this shit you’re doing, trying to make the Empire a better place or whatever — it’s bullshit. It’s never gonna work. If you want to get anything done, you’ve gotta tear it all down,” Kaliyo explained.

“And now you know that’s not how I think.” Katra stuffed the pistol into her holster and approached the guard with her blade in his spine.

“It’s how you should think.” Kaliyo worked up the nerve to look at her as she pulled her knife from his body.

“No, it isn’t. And this was the most—the most _stupid_ way you could ever try to convince me,” Katra said, disgust in her voice as she wiped the blade on her armor.

“It sure as fuck didn’t _work._ But you weren’t supposed to find out this early. It was supposed to be a safehouse when your plan went south.”  
“You can’t be on my ship anymore.”

Kaliyo froze.

“You can’t—”

“You’re a liability,” Katra said, keeping her voice cold and distant. “I let myself believe you. I trusted you with everything I am. Everything I ever was. Because I needed someone to know. And you had no faith in me. You were trying to change me into something to suit yourself. Like the SIS. Like the Sith.”

“I just killed the only people I ever gave a shit about—” Kaliyo began.

“I know. And you have no one to blame but you this time, Kaliyo. I didn’t ‘humiliate’ you. I didn’t do anything to betray you. If you’d thought, really _thought_ , for one second, you would’ve seen this coming,” Katra said. “This is not some crazy, unpredictable result of your rampant stupidity.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Kaliyo growled. “The only people I ever gave a shit about _besides you_.”

Katra scoffed. “I was just a meal ticket.”

“Fuck you!” Kaliyo shouted. “I don’t say ‘I love you’ without meaning it! I string people along, I make ‘em feel special, but I never say that kind of shit to them, it ruins the whole game. I sure as hell don’t bury the hatchet with goons like X just to make them better. I don’t go out and get a Sith to kill their shitty ex-parent for them. I never lied about that, Kat. Not after the Dominator.”

“I wish I could believe you.” Katra turned away. “Your things have already been packed. They’re outside the ship with 2V. Take them or don’t. You’re not my problem anymore.”

“Really? Then just fucking shoot me!” Kaliyo yelled, spreading her arms wide, eyes stinging with suppressed tears. “Where the hell am I gonna go? I bet everything on you when I shot him!”

“You’ll move on. You’ll find someone else to mooch off. Someone else to ruin. Not me.” Katra keyed the door and stepped through. Kaliyo raced after her, grabbing her arm as she started heading back to the Phantom.

“Why not kill me?” she pleaded, tugging her back. “It’s what you do, isn’t it? Kill terrorists. Kill anti-Empire vigilantes.”

“Because I love you, and I’m looking out for myself now,” Katra answered, wrenching her arm away. “I’m not going to do that to myself. I know you’ll be fine. Eventually. Like me.” Katra stalked through the spaceport, shoving aside the crowd as Kaliyo followed, feeling pathetic, like a dog. But nothing she said, nothing she did, moved Katra off her course. As soon as they re-entered their docking bay, Katra marched up the loading ramp and took 2V-R8 with her, leaving nothing but a duffel bag on the ground for Kaliyo as the ramp folded up in front of her face.

She watched, her chest aching, eyes wet, face flushed, as the Phantom lifted into the yellow skies of Nal Hutta, and left her behind.

So that’s what it felt like.

It _sucked._

Kaliyo took the bag and felt the weight of her armor and clothes. She unzipped it, finding the rifle that Intelligence had provided her after Alderaan lying on top. She hadn’t needed to replace it since. Katra hadn’t left her defenseless. In fact, as Kaliyo digged furiously, she found a stack of credits, and even a personal holocom. All things considered, she was better off than when she’d left this garbage planet in the first place.

So why did this suck so much?

She dragged the bag over to the wall and sat down against it, turning the holocom over in her hands. She could call her. Beg. But the woman she’d respected enough to fall for wouldn’t change her mind. Not when she was so obviously right. They’d never belonged together. This was always coming. She’d just fooled herself into thinking they could run away together. That there was someone out there who’d match her perfectly, who excited her, who was really, truly unique and somehow still compatible with Kaliyo.

She called a different frequency.

 

“Neyara? You look like shit.”

“Get me off this hellhole, Drayl.”


	9. Some Sunny Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months after Hutta, the New Empire contacts Kaliyo Djannis with one final offer of employment on Makeb...

_Bing. Bing. Bing. Bing._

The holocom’s ring slowly roused Neyara from sleep, until eventually she was lucid enough to thump Drayl’s stomach. “Go _get_ it,” she hissed as Drayl jerked awake. Drayl grumbled nonverbally as she got out of Neyara’s arms and shuffled towards the door in her nightshirt. Neyara took a second to watch her leave, then buried her face in the pillow and let her senses dull for a moment.

Then the door opened again.

“It’s for you,” Drayl said, lips pursed, eyes wide. “It’s, uh, definitely for you.”

Neyara groaned. Probably some dipshit ex. As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, she noticed that Drayl wasn’t moving, just standing stock-still and staring at her. “What?” Neyara asked.

“Y-you might wanna get dressed.”

“Fuck it,” Neyara opined, standing up and stretching. She was dressed enough. It’s not like whoever was calling hadn’t seen her naked before, that was a guarantee. A thin tank top and boxers was fine. As she walked out the door towards the main room, she noticed Drayl following her like a lost gizka, grey eyes still wide. “Go to bed,” Neyara said. “Whoever it is, it’s not a big—”

She turned the corner and came face-to-face with Darth Malgus.

“Kaliyo Djannis,” Malgus stated plainly. “Leave us, Darsuk. I have no interest in you, and you don’t need to know what I am about to say.”

“What are you gonna do to me if I don’t?” Drayl said, suddenly adopting a brave face. Neyara wanted to scoff.

“Clearly you have not worked in the Empire before.” Malgus held out a hand, and Drayl suddenly started clawing at her throat. He pulled back his arm. “I will not ask you again.”

“Yeah, right, got it,” Drayl choked out, turning on her heel and heading back to her bedroom.

Malgus and Neyara stared at each other for a moment.

“My Minister has kept good tabs on you. She wasn’t surprised to learn of your involvement in the Battle of Corellia. You, among others, are responsible for the New Empire’s creation,” Malgus said. “She also has a mission she feels you would be best-suited for.”

“You’re talking about Kat,” Neyara said, squinting.

“Minister Katranna Ilshay, yes,” Malgus corrected. “She felt that if she contacted you directly, you would think this to be a trap or you would refuse to speak at all. I am here because I would not waste my time baiting a third-rate anarchist wanderer into a trap. At least, that is what _my_ intelligence shows about you. But Ilshay believes that you can assist the people of Makeb in breaking free of their oppressive rulers, and that you would appreciate the chance more than living with this Captain Darsuk.”

 _Ilshay?_ Neyara thought to herself. “You’re dropping a lot of information on me at once, Malgus.”

“I did not wish to waste time.”

“I get that impression, yeah. Listen: You’re gonna have to give me more to go on if you want my help. And you’re going to pay me.”

“Of course. The Empire rewards those who perform admirably. You will find the full details in your datapad. I sent them before opening this channel.” Malgus paused for a moment, folding his arms. “Let me be clear, Djannis: I trust my Minister with the future of my Empire. She is placing her trust in you, for whatever reason. The liberation of Makeb —  _not_ its annexation by Imperial forces — is key to the survival of my people. She believes this is an area where you and she can work together and produce an acceptable result. If you fail us, or sabotage the mission, you will die. That is a promise.”

“You all really have changed, huh?” Neyara asked. “You’re really not trying to conquer these people?”

“We wish to collaborate with them for our mutual survival,” Malgus confirmed. “And that is Ilshay’s goal for the two of you as well.”

“Ain’t that butterflies and rainbows,” Kaliyo muttered. “Fine. I’ll do it. Sounds fun.”

“Come to the orbital station above Makeb. Your ship will be permitted access. The Empire will be watching.”

 

* * *

 

All in all, it was the easiest revolution in history, and the first one that Kaliyo had ever managed to see through.

The Empire really set everyone up; weapons, satellite data, expertise feeding into Kaliyo’s earpiece at every second as she sat at the war table with Pollus Avesta. The guy was sharp — enough to doubt the Empire’s motives as much as Kaliyo did, but when it came time to strike, everything was in place.

The Regulators fought hard, but not hard enough. Positions fell as Kaliyo advanced, and she could see the signs of Katra’s handiwork everywhere, especially when the Archon dropped dead just as the planet shook like crazy, and then finally stopped shaking for good. Kaliyo shook hands with Pollus, and got a message on her datapad:

_Come to the Hesk Estate for your payment._

_-Katranna Ilshay, Minister of Intelligence_

 

* * *

 

It was stupid, of course. Probably a trap. But something in Kaliyo had to see. As the shuttle landed on the pad of this enormous, ridiculously fancy (and strangely empty) estate, Kaliyo considered her options. She could turn around and not get paid. Satisfaction of a job well done, and all that.

Or she could see Katra again.

And maybe beat the shit out of her.

Or fuck her.

Or something.

She climbed out of the shuttle and wound her way down the spiral steps, stopping in the garden as she looked around for any sign of life. Up closer to the main building, where she supposed people actually lived, a figure was silhouetted against the sky, sitting at a table for two with a red and orange umbrella over it. The figure’s head turned, and two points of red light made themselves clear against the largely shadowed form.

No going back now.

Katra turned her head back towards the view of the mesas of Makeb while Kaliyo made her way through the gardens. She approached the table carefully, like it was about to explode. Two wine glasses sat untouched. Katra still looked away, expression unreadable as ever. Kaliyo looked over her for a moment — she wasn’t in her coat, or her armor, but a rather well-tailored Imperial dress uniform in a stark red. Gold trim. Very official. Pretty hot, in a bureaucratic way.

Kaliyo took her seat.

“I’m not drinking the one on my side,” Kaliyo said pointedly.

Katra stifled a laugh. “I’m not going to poison you. If you've noticed, you're the only person I'm honest with.” Her accent was still lovely. Her voice seemed a little lighter, though; relaxed, even. She could be acting. She probably was. But it was nice to hear.

“Drink from both of ‘em.”

“As you wish.”

Katra turned, took Kaliyo’s glass, and dipped a little into her own. She swirled her cup and took a quick sip. “See?” she said, licking her lips. “This isn’t a trap, Kaliyo.”

“Hard to believe that with you, you know,” Kaliyo said, taking back her glass and drinking all of it in one gulp.

“That is not how you drink wine.”

“I know.”

Katra smiled. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“You have. What’s all this ‘Minister Katranna Ilshay’ business?” Kaliyo asked, setting the glass down and wiping her lips on her sleeve.

“I was told my name was Katra. When I was a slave. I had to make up a full name,” Katra explained. “Sounds pretty official, doesn’t it?”

“And Malgus sent you right into power. You’re not behind a desk or something now, right?”

“As if Malgus would waste me. I make big decisions, I plan things. And then, I do them,” Katra said simply. “Shardyn’s managing some nonsense with the Dread Masters right now, I believe. I don’t envy her. Though now that Makeb’s stable, I’ll probably be roped in...”

“Your New Empire everything you wanted?” Kaliyo asked, looking down and idly rubbing her hands over each other. Now she wished she’d kept the wine around. She needed something to do. Something to look at besides Kat.

“Not everything. But we’re on our way. We conduct ourselves like civilized people. We’re recovering from the disaster that was the first year of the new war. We’re stronger and smarter than ever under Malgus. Once the Emperor was defeated and his Wrath destroyed, the Dark Council dissolved, the Empire reorganized under central leadership...things got a lot simpler. And we’ve made a lot more allies this way,” Katra said.

“So you were right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

Kaliyo didn’t answer for a second. She looked over to Katra and saw a faint smile, raised eyebrows. Her hair had gotten just a bit longer. Her lenses looked new, too. Shiny. She looked away again. “Listen, what happened on Hutta...”

“We don’t have to talk about that. The fact is, Kaliyo...” Katra set down her glass. “This might be the last time we see each other. I saw this opportunity and I took it. But things don’t line up like this twice. I wanted...” She sighed. “I wanted to thank you. For everything you did for me. You changed my life. And I wanted to say goodbye. Properly.”

“We were never gonna last, huh? I mean, I fucked up. Obvious. But it’s not like I wasn’t gonna do it eventually, right? I’m always gonna...” Kaliyo couldn’t quite find the words, but she found herself staring into Kat’s lenses as though hoping for...something. Forgiveness? Or maybe just some way to absolve her. To make this all impersonal. Not a failing. Not really a fuck-up. Inevitable.

“Maybe if we didn’t insist on _living_ our ideals,” Katra said with a sad smile. “If we were Republic citizens, content to just vote, work a boring job, and hope we get represented. Long arguments about politics and lots of make-up sex. But that’s not who we are. We’re women of action. We’ll always be working at cross-purposes eventually.”

Kaliyo sighed. “So, maybe when we’re retired?”

“Are you saying you’ll ever retire?”

“Good point. We’re both gonna die in a firefight.”

“We can only cheat death for so long.”

“This is getting morbid,” Kaliyo said.

Katra took a sip of her wine. “You started it.”

“Let’s circle back to the make-up sex part.”

Katra laughed, relaxing back into her chair and throwing a sly gaze her way. “The thought crossed my mind. But I’m really supposed to be paying you. And then getting back to work.”

“And drinking wine and having a weird heart-to-heart with your ex? I think Malgus will wait. He ‘respects you’ and ‘trusts you’ and shit. Since when does the Empire do that?” Kaliyo gave Katra a punch to the shoulder. “You’re a bad influence.”

“You’re one to talk.” Katra rose from her seat, gently taking Kaliyo’s hand as she did. Kaliyo maintained the contact and stood up herself, letting Katra close the distance between them. “But I did say I was going to say goodbye properly this time.”

She tasted better than ever.

Katra broke the kiss and led Kaliyo inside, to the master bedroom of this stolen estate. The bed looked like it was meant for four people, and there was so much more _space_ in here than there had been in the Phantom. Kaliyo realized she’d somehow hoped to say goodbye to the ship, too, but Kat might not even fly it anymore. The thought troubled her.

Kat stepped behind her, trailing a finger along her jawline. “So,” she whispered in Kaliyo’s ear, “Any special requests?”

Kaliyo couldn’t help but smile. “Whatcha got?” she asked boldly, turning around to face Katra.

“Solida was a bit of a firebrand. We’ve got all sorts of fun things in that closet over there...”

Kaliyo let out a chuckle. “You _didn’t_ fuck this rich Makeb woman. No way.”

“I’ve had plenty of women since you, Kaliyo. None quite as much fun,” Katra said, taking hold of Kaliyo’s jacket and sliding it off her shoulders.

“What about that little ensign?”

“Temple? I doubt she could even handle half of what I did to you,” Katra said dismissively. “And I didn’t do half of what I _wanted_ to do to you. But we’ve got time, now...unless you want to take the lead.”

“Gonna be honest here. I only cuffed you that one time ‘cuz I wanted to make sure you didn’t interrupt me sending a message off to Brentaal,” Kaliyo said flippantly. “I like you in charge.”

Katra laughed. “Of course you did.” She pulled a silk handkerchief out of her breast pocket, then spun Kaliyo around and wrapped it across her eyes, tying it behind her head. “I like me in charge too.”

Kaliyo grinned, the tightness of the blindfold sending tingles down her spine. “I don’t know, could just lift it off,” she goaded, reaching her hands up. “Might need to take care of these, too.”

“I think I can take care of it.”

Kaliyo felt Katra grab her wrists and yank them behind her back, lifting her head to the ceiling as ropes wound their way up her arms. Kat must have _practiced_ this — her knots were done in less than a minute, leaving Kaliyo pleasantly restrained, smiling wide, her stomach flipping as she tried to image what Katra was looking at now. She pressed her legs together to contain the growing warmth and wet as Katra unbuckled her boots and took them off, one at a time, agonizingly slowly.

She sighed with relief as Katra’s hands made their way to her zipper, gratefully stepping out of her pants and underwear after Kat pulled them to her ankles. She felt a chill on her naked lower body at Katra’s “Just a minute,” and she stood waiting anxiously as she heard Katra open the closet door. Then a sound of sliding, buckling. Then Kat’s hand on her back, pushing her towards the bed, bending her over, knocking her legs apart with her feet. Katra’s hand migrated to Kaliyo’s hips, and dug their nails in. Kaliyo let out a whimper, her cheek pressing into the soft covers, waiting for Katra to decide when things would _really_ get started. A finger pressed into her pussy, running through the folds, just barely entering into her for a brief moment. Kaliyo shuddered as she felt — and heard — how ready she was. As the errant hand returned to her hip, she felt Katra’s presence drawing closer, the heat of her body, the sound of her breath.

Something pressed against her, something hard, cold. She gasped as it pushed inside of her, filling her, sliding in almost effortlessly through her arousal. It stayed there, immobile, for a second, and then she felt Katra’s first thrust, the ribbed surface pushing in and out of her, and she just wanted _more_. Faster, harder, she begged and babbled as Katra’s nails pressed into her flesh, her pace quickening as Kaliyo lost control of her voice and just started letting out stuttering moans. Kaliyo’s climax almost came as a surprise, her knees buckling and sending her limply forward into the bed, barely keeping upright as she bit her lip to muffle her scream. Katra’s toy slipped out of her a moment afterward as she shuddered, twitching and almost prone. Then Kat’s hand found its way between her legs again, carefully rubbing her clit, and she felt a second orgasm start building immediately. She wanted to collapse into the covers, but Katra’s other hand wrapped around her chest and pulled up, forcing her to stand. Kat quickly rearranged her hands to wrap around her and attack her from the other angle, her front pressing into Kaliyo’s bound arms. Kaliyo cried out as she felt Kat’s hand travel up her shirt and squeeze.

She threw herself back into Katra as she came for the second time, and felt the smaller woman almost let her fall as the weight hit her unexpectedly. Katra walked her back as she panted and swallowed, trying to get out some snide remark, something to goad her on. But Katra clearly didn’t need it; she put her hands on Kaliyo's shoulders and pushed her down on her knees. Kaliyo heard her unbuckling the strap-on, letting it drop to the floor.

“Hope you’re not trying a striptease,” Kaliyo managed, a smile coming to her lips. “Would be a waste, you know.”

Katra chuckled, and Kaliyo heard clothes falling to the floor, and took the moment to try and steady her breathing, even though her body was telling her that it wasn’t yet enough. As the bedsprings creaked, Kaliyo felt a warm hand on her neck, pushing her head forward into Katra’s scent. She set to work through feel alone as Kat whimpered and groaned, her nails biting into Kaliyo’s scalp, familiar, wonderful. To Kaliyo’s surprise, before Katra had reached her usual point of climax with it’s short, high-pitched breaths and long sigh, Katra pushed her out. Then her hands were on Kaliyo’s shoulders again, pressing her backwards onto the floor. Kaliyo shivered as Katra crawled up her body to sit on her face. As soon as she felt Kat’s heat on her lips again, she set her tongue to work once more, feeling Katra’s thighs shake to either side of her as she began her work.

Katra was louder than usual this time as she finished, letting out strangled cries and panting moans, and Kaliyo felt a perverse gratification as Katra succumbed slightly to gravity and slumped over her.

“Kaliyo,” she breathed, “You can do more blindfolded and bound than any other woman.” She slid down Kaliyo’s body on her stomach, lying on top of her, and kissed her. “I’ve missed you.”

Kaliyo felt a spark of annoyance. “Then you shouldn’t have left me on Hutta,” she challenged.

“That sounds like backtalk,” Katra said, a laugh in her voice. “We can’t have that.”

 _Oh, now I’ve got her going again_ , Kaliyo thought as she felt Katra leave her presence. The thought sent a rush through her lower body, even as she tried in vain to get some kind of anger back. _Fuck it_ , she decided suddenly. _Nobody else could get away with it. She can. Enjoy this._

Katra suddenly yanked her to her feet, grabbing her around the waist and steadying their bodies against each other. She wrapped one arm around Kaliyo’s shoulders and sent the other between her legs again, her long, dexterous fingers getting right to the point. “What should we do about that?” Katra asked playfully as she got to work. Kaliyo hissed as Katra pressed Kaliyo into her and furiously rubbed her, so fast that Kaliyo was sure she was going to—

And just like that, Katra stopped, her fingers still pressing into her lips but no longer moving at all. Kaliyo groaned, trying to move her hips to finish herself off, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Quick twitches of her fingers kept Kaliyo on the edge, her whole body remaining tense for almost a full minute, unable to make any words, just wordless protests as she tried desperately to come.

“I suppose I can show mercy just this once,” Katra said, and suddenly she was back in full gear and Kaliyo _screamed_ , shaking as her third orgasm sent shockwaves through her body. She could swear that she blacked out, for the next thing she understood was that she was lying beside Katra in bed, her arms freed again, though Katra had evidently left the blindfold. She felt Katra’s fingers gliding across her naked chest.

“You should’ve told me that you like that kind of thing,” Katra murmured. “I didn’t think it’d make you go _that_ crazy.”

Kaliyo rubbed her arms, feeling where the ropes had cut into her, sending little goosebumps down her body as she remembered the sensation. “Kat, _I_ didn’t know I would ever want to sub, but here I am. I’m usually topping, you know. It’s just you.”

“Very sweet.” Katra kissed Kaliyo on the cheek and giggled.

“I tried making Drayl do some of this shit, but...not the same. Holy shit, it’s sure not like _that_.” Kaliyo let out a sigh. “We are gonna do this again.”

“Oh, we're doing this all night,” Katra assured her. “And I think your break is over.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kaliyo stirred, patting the bed beside her and finding nothing there. She frowned, sitting up and lifting the blindfold to her forehead. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep with it on, necessarily, but it felt sort of comforting and nice. And honestly they’d both been so exhausted, Kaliyo didn’t think they’d meant to fall asleep, it just _happened_ after all those hours.

When she looked around, she saw the door still cracked open, Kat’s clothes still on the floor. She discarded the blindfold and got out of bed, stretching her sore arms and feeling the cool morning air across her skin. She took a brief glance at Solida’s closet and drew out a gray bathrobe, wrapping it around herself as she stepped out into the garden.

Katra sat at the table they’d shared last night, clad only in her short black robe, staring at the sun rise over the mesas. Kaliyo took a seat beside her.

“It’s a beautiful world,” Katra mused. “I’m glad we saved it.”

“How long can we stay?” Kaliyo asked. “Though I guess we’ll have to get some food at some point.”

“I have to leave in an hour.”

Kaliyo’s stomach dropped, but she didn’t say anything. She knew it was coming. “Where to?”

“Some backwater Czerka research world. Duty calls, and all that. What about you? Going back to Darsuk?”

Kaliyo thought for a moment. “You said we’re women of action. I get that. I think I’ve been hanging with Darsuk so I don’t have to actually be myself for a while. Calling myself ‘Neyara’. Think I’ll go back to Kaliyo. And I’ll find some government that needs blowing up. Bet you there’s a dictatorship in the Outer Rim with my name on it.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.”

Katra reached her hand across the table, and Kaliyo took it as they watched the sun rise.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For everything you did for me.”

“It’s been good, Agent. Real good.”

“We’ll meet again.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

Kaliyo took her certainty with a grain of salt. The galaxy was huge. Kaliyo was headed for the very edge of it. Anything could get in the way. They could both die tomorrow.

But it was a nice thought.


End file.
